


The Azure Knight

by Blondemort



Category: Under Night In-Birth (Video Game)
Genre: Action & Romance, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:42:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 24,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25317754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blondemort/pseuds/Blondemort
Summary: The story is about Orie arriving to a new city as she has been appointed to take care of the void threat. Along the way she meets multiple individuals that will have more of an impact than she could ever imagine. (Ongoing)
Relationships: Orie Ballardiae/Hyde Kido
Comments: 12
Kudos: 20





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So uhhh, first time writer and to be quite honest kinda forced to be one, i accidentally shitalked my way into a fanfic duel with a more experienced writer to make an Orie x Hyde fanfic. Despite my lack of experience, i am not one to hide from a challenge. It ain´t much, but i hope someone gets some enjoyment out of it.

CHAPTER 1

The calm wind is blowing through sidewalk, the brown leaves begin to slowly descend on this peaceful jungle of concrete and steel. Cars can be seen moving in a calm but continuous flow. Children are walking with their schoolbags most likely going to their appropriate schools, they are huddled in small groups most likely friends talking to each other and occasionally smiling towards their companion’s topics.

A young girl looks at this scene, giving a heartfelt smile for looking at the young having no care for the world they live in and enjoy the simple pleasures of life, but a faint hint of melancholy can be felt in her demeanor for she appreciates the simple joys the children are experiencing that she could not.

Long and blue hair hangs from her like fine silk, her eyes give a vivid image of the deep blue sea in the middle of the night, with her gleam full of life serving as that ocean´s lighthouse. Her light but graceful steps serve as a great accessory to her reserved but elegant appearance.

On her way through the city she finds what appears to be a local bookstore, taking a moment to look at the books presented on the store´s main window she decides to go in. She takes a quick glance at the inside on the store, calmly walking observing the multiple genres of books they provide. She decides to stop the mystery section looking closely at what the store provides. But as she looks through the column of books, she notices a figure slouching in the corner of the store.

It appears to be young boy with unkempt black clothes and spiked irregular hair that looks like a golden eagle´s feathers with tips burned to a dark tone by the harsh desert sun. He appears to be hiding or obstructing something with his body. Being unable to hide her own curiosity, she decides to approach the young man.  
The young man appears to be entranced by his current actions to notice the young lady towards him, after she has gotten close enough, she gives a simple question in a pleasant voice:

“Excuse m-

AHH!

AHH!!

WHA-WHAT? The young man flinches in surprise and quickly hides what he was holding in his hands behind his back.

The young lady still on edge from the young boy’s explosive reaction she questions “…What are you doi-“

“Nothin…” says the young boy.

She takes a second to process the young boy´s evasive behavior and stares directly to his eyes and asks ”Are you…trying to steal something?” her calm demeanor starts to become more serious, her big eyes beginning to become smaller and more focused.

“No, of course not! Can´t a guy just read his novel in peace? ¨ the young boy responds with a slight tone of indignance.

“Oh” the young girl takes a small step back “Aha sorry, I just…sorry to disturb you, mind if I ask what you are reading?”

The boy’s eyes shift quickly from left to right and quickly answers “Mystery book”.

“Oh! That´s nice to hear, I quite enjoy that genre myself too, what book are you reading? I might have read it too, any favorite author?”. The young lady gives a genuine look of interest.

“Weeell, I mean…I’ve read so much it all just kinda…. blends together ya know.” Says the boy with an awkward smile.

“Oh my, you must be quite the reader aren´t you?” The young lady says with a soothing smile. “Any stories you might recommend me?”

The boy looks at her with a face filled with guilt and says “Yes uhh, the night of uhhh…oh you know what screw it”.He finally exposes his hidden book showing a small manga book with a cover showing a small boy filled with spunk ready to take on the dark demon king while in a fighting stance. “You happy?” The flustered boy asks.

The young girl takes a glance at the manga the boy is holding and says, “Oh my, it’s not what I expected, but I do enjoy the drawings”.  
“Re-really?” The boy acts surprised to her reaction.

“It´s not my cup of tea but I can still appreciate literature no matter the form.”

The boy relaxes his shoulders and gives a small sigh of relief, “Huh well, glad ya like it.”

The young girl takes a moment of reflection and says” Well sorry for disturbing you, but I have to take my leave, I’m was on my class but I´ve yet to learn the proper route to my school”

“Ah you are new here, I might be able to help, what school ya from?” the boy asks.

“Kyoiku School of Education” the young girl replies.

“Heh, I guess you are in luck, I’m from that school too, I can lead you to it if ya like”. The boy responds

“Oh that´d be lovely.” The girl answers

As they take off from the bookstore, the young boy passes through a small child and hears him smirk and whisper “nerd…” The blonde hair boy clicks his tongue and tries to ignore the massive blow to his pride and carries on walking with the young lady

As the both stroll down the city, the boy asks the young girl “You know, I forgot to ask your name”.

The young girl looks up at the sky and with signs of embarrassment says “Oh yes, I guess you are right, my name is Orie”

“Hyde, nice to meet ya”.

After taking a moment to think, Hyde asks “hey ah, why where you looking at me?

“Well, I don´t know I just thought you were up to some mischief being hunched over in the corner and such” Orie answers.

“Really? That was enough for you to think I was doing something like that?”

“Well, you see, it’s just that” she takes a glance up and down at Hyde’s unkempt clothes and unruly hairstyle “you just seem to give off a vibe”

“Vibe?” Hyde raises an eyebrow in confusion.

“Well you look, …you seemed to appear like…a…hooligan...” She looks at the ground avoiding Hyde´s eyes.

“Tch, wow that bad huh? Ever heard of not judging a book by its cover”

“You are right, I shouldn´t be that quick to judge, not only where you not stealing anything, you are even helping me as a guide, even now despite my previous...statements.”

“Ahh don’t sweat it, we all make mistakes, sides I wouldn´t sleep well if I let someone new to this city stranded in the middle of nowhere.”

“I appreciate your kindness” Orie now raises her sight to take a good look at the boy beside him. She finally takes notice of his features, he holds an intimidating looks with his sharp red eyes, despite his simple personality, has a relaxed pose as if he has nothing to do, yet no worry behind that thought either and presents a feeling of being down to earth.

Despite the fact she still feels a sense of unease looking at his sloppy school uniform, she is definetly intrigued by this young boy whether it’s because of his demeanor or his rather “interesting” hobby.

As Hyde walks alongside Orie, he can´t help but feel that he is being stared with daggers, turning around he sees Orie intently looking at his untucked shirt. Hyde looks at her up and down with her not even noticing the boy´s eyes and says “Ya lost something?”

“Oh, forgive me, it´s just that…you are going to the same school, right?”

“Well I AM guiding you towards it”

“Yes yes of course, but… I expected a school to have a more… strict uniform guideline”

“Oh, ya mean this?” Hyde grabs his untucked shirt “Yeah the teachers sometimes annoy me with that kinda stuff, but its fine they just maybe take some points of my grades or something and that’s it, not a real problem”

“Ah, then it IS a problem” Orie retorts “You should take more care of your uniform then, your school grades are important, and the problem can be easily fixed by adjusting to your uniform. Besides a clean look tells a lot about someone’s character” she keeps looking at his shirt “…. lemme just”

“Hey Hey! What are you doin?” he swipes Orie´s hand away

“It´s just a simple thing, it won´t take a moment” Orie says in a warm voice.

“Jeez don´t you know anything about personal space, you are cramping my style”

“Style?” says Orie “A style isn’t helpful if it affects your school performance and image, please it won´t hurt, I promise.”

Hyde looks at Orie for a moment and gives a long sigh “Fine fine, just get it over quickly”

“As quick as the wind” Orie says with a cheerful smile. She begins to organize the unruly clothes coming surrounding Hyde, meanwhile Hyde reluctantly stands still looking at his style getting cramped as he´d put it, but taking a look at Orie fixing her clothes he does find it rather amusing as if she was a maid, especially looking at her long flowing blue dress that complements her long hair and eyes. After a couple moments of organizing Hyde’s uniform, she raises her head, hand on her hips and with air of satisfaction says, “There you go, now you are ready take on the world.”

Hyde takes a moment to look at the damage done by the young lady standing before him and sarcastically says “Feel smarter already.”

¨Good, glad you feel that way.” says Orie as they continue on their way.

“So, uh guess you are a bit of a nerd aren´t ya?” Hyde says with a subtle grin.

Orie appalled says “If having a decent school career is a sign of being a nerd as you so call it, then yes, I’m very much a nerd.” She looks away from him feeling slightly insulted.

“Hey no offense I was just sayin” he gives a slight chuckle “Don´t get me wrong there´s nothing wrong with that, but I do get the feeling you don´t get to enjoy yourself that much huh?”

“I-I do have my fun thank you, I enjoy reading as you´ve known before and enjoy a nice cup of tea every once in a while” Orie says  
“While also hearing ballads coming from your gramophone next to your fireplace” Hyde mockingly continues

“Why yes” Orie looks surprised at the boy´s ability to read her mind “See, we are not so different you and I”

Hyde takes a couple seconds to process the young lady´s ability to distinguish sarcasm and her personal hobbies and says “You really need to go out more…”

Orie gives a small sigh and says, “Wish I could but, I have a lot of…responsibilities.” Orie says, lowering her gaze.

“Really, like what?” Hyde asks

“I am part of a…extracurricular team. I don´t have a lot of time to do other things” Orie responds

“Huh, well if ya ever think ya got time, I can show you how to enjoy yourself, I know a couple fun places around town. Gotta live a little you know”

“Fufu guess I’ll take you up for it if I have the chance.”

Hyde smiles and looks forward as he continues guiding the young lady.

Both Orie and Hyde continue their walk, the silhouette of a school can be seen in the distance. Orie feels a bit of excitement that she has managed to make a friend so quickly despite being an outsider to this town, but a sobering feeling of dread comes over her as she knows the true purpose of her arrival.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The shining sun begins to die down, the sky starts to show a hue of orange giving red highlights to the clouds dotting the skyline, as Orie looks from the classroom window, she knows that her duty is about to begin. After getting out of her class, she receives a phone call with the only sentence she hears is “8 p.m. Koen park” after that vague sentence, the call ends and Orie now has her next destination.

The previously lively environment the town provided with the citizens going through their usual routines, the large flow of vehicles circulating the roads and the children going to their according schools has now changed to a more silent location.

The air feels more stagnant and the massive buildings towering on top of the young lady give a feeling of claustrophobia despite currently being outside. Few people can be seen throughout the city and the odd car appears every now and then through the streets.

Orie can´t help but feel more isolated now that the day is coming to a close, but at the same time she is glad that not many humans are appearing at this time of day. She arrives at Koen park, a large park filled with trees and green planes darkened by the lack of sunlight and the growing presence of the pale moon.

As she enters what appears to be the center of the park, she notices two hooded silhouettes near a bench. Those same silhouettes turn and look at Orie´s direction, their faces clouded by shadows. She stops on her tracks, her muscles begin to tense, her head hunches down and very slowly takes a fencing stance.

Orie and the figures look at each other, unmoving. One of the hooded figures raises its arm, Orie takes a small step back, but as one of the silhouettes’ hood falls, she notices a familiar face.

A tall woman with light blue hair in the form of a bowl cut, broken only by her long bangs. Her face provides a welcoming smile like a mother waiting to pick her child from school. She appears to hold a book of complex design on her right hand and signals Orie to come closer.

After recognizing that face, she gives a sigh of relief and begins to walk over to her. “I´m glad to see you again Silvaria.

Silvaria maintains her smile and says “Glad to see you are in good health. How are you enjoying your stay in this new city?”

Orie responds “ I think it´s a welcoming place for a city, everybody seems friendly throughout the day, but…I can´t quite say the same now, I know what lurks in the night, but even then, people seem to avoid being outside now that night has fallen."

“It is the reason we have decided to bring you here Orie, the town is fairly known for having people disappearing in the night, to the point of the city´s major holds an optional, but highly recommended curfew after the day ends. The organization has already verified the cause of said disappearances.”

“Voids…” Orie´s voice becomes more serious; her face shows a combined sense of anger and determination.

“Correct, the voids have taken a liking to this place, most likely by the large amount of certain… Individuals located in this city. This in turn has put the citizens of this town at risk at being killed by the hands of these voids and I personally picked you to take care of this menace and keep it under control. You´ve always had a good head on your shoulders, I´m sure you can take care of this issue.”

“I´m flattered that you think so highly of me” Orie lowers her head towards the dignified woman in front of her. “But…” Orie notices the other hooded figure standing behind Silvaria “may I ask who is accompanying you?”

“Ah, she is the other reason I’ve decided to select you for this mission” Silvaria motions the hooded figure to show herself, as the hooded figure lowers its cloth, the moonlight begins to expose the figure´s bleach blonde hair, short but large in volume with prevalent curls on each side of her pale skin, her imposing red eyes show no form of gleam, only a dark red landscape that contradicts her snow white complexion.

Orie has heard stories of this person, the Flame Tyrant, the sword of the Licht Kreis, fitting title gained from her infamous exploits serving the organization. In truth, Orie has mixed feelings toward this…symbol of the Licht Kreis, despite her support at holding order in the night, she has had tasteless forms to carrying out her orders.

Orie has heard countless stories of the cruelty shown by this knight in battle, the way she has seem to break her opponents down in a slow form rather than completing her task at hand as swiftly as possible. Not only that, but throughout the organization she has heard stories of this Tyrant even killing one of her own, even now she hasn´t learned the reasoning behind her actions, but despite her superior ranking, Orie believes that her impromptu role as executioner towards one of her own is a serious blemish towards the Organization she has held dear in her heart.

The blonde girl looks at Orie trying to restrain her apathy towards her and says, “My name is Miyashiro Erika Wagner” A sense of pride can be felt as she recites these words.

Silvaria looks at Orie and says “She will be aiding you as an ally in this crusade”

Orie fails to hide her surprise in her eyes as she hears these words, similar to how Wagner fails to hide her annoyance.

“ Wagner has been…reassigned to this city due to certain events and you will serve as a supervisor to her actions” Silvaria continues “As of now, you hold authority behind the actions of the both of you. You shall work as a pair to take care of this void threat and any clear enemies to our objective.”

“Bu- but Silvaria I…” Orie looks at Silvaria´s face being confused at Orie´s faltering response and says “I…I understand”. Orie looks at Wagner, walks up to her and says while stretching her hand, “Pleasure to be working with you, Wagner”

Wagner on the other hand keeps her arms down and lifts her chin towards Orie, looking down on her, as Orie slowly retracts her hand, Silvaria responds.

“Now now Wagner, you have to play nice with your allies.”

Wagner glances at Silvaria and back to Orie as she reluctantly stretches her hand and clasps Orie´s.

“Good, now that that´s settled with, you can begin your investigation, the moon is at its highest point and I’m sure you two will find more than enough work for today. Now then I shall take my leave, god speed you two” Silvaria calmly walks away from the two knights.

Orie can´t shake a feeling of anxiety as she is left with the command of the Flame Tyrant, a person who even she can notice the disdain Wagner has for her current situation. As she lays in contemplation, Wagner removes her robes and shows her true apparel, a beautiful white coat holding a long cape of crimson with gold highlights running down her slender legs covered with knee high boots of similar color as her cape. Her stance shows a clear image of nobility while showing a sense of authority around her.

As Wagner takes her robes, she begins to walk away from Orie into the city, she brands on her right hand a small red sword with a structure seeming as if it was made of molten lava and a small shield of crimson and gold.

“Wa- wait where are you going?” Orie hurriedly asks

“You heard her, I’m off to investigate” Wagner says without turning her head

“But you heard Silvaria, we need to work together.” Orie says with urgency

“Follow me if you like, but I’m not waiting for you to stop standing idly by while the night continues” Wagner replies while continuing her stride.

Orie shows anguish as her worries start becoming true, how is someone like her going to control a knight that even the organization has no way to rein in. As she begins to think of a way to approach Wagner, she follows the tyrant that is clearly ready for what the night has to provide.

Orie catches up to Wagner and after a long moment of silence, she decides to try to break the wall between them. “My name is Orie” Wagner is undeterred “…. I’m glad to have your fighting prowess by my side” Wagner continues walking in silence “…. would you like to strategize how we are going to-“

“We have come to take care of the creatures of the night, stay silent behind me and follow my lead.” Wagner responds with a distant tone.

“R-right….” Orie says following Wagner´s footsteps.

After half an hour of walking in silence, the pair finds a massive group of voids huddled together in a large and empty parking lot. Orie tries to say something to Wagner but it´s stopped after seeing Wagner´s gaze, her usually dead eyes begin to glimmer with a fire that indirectly strikes fear in Orie´s soul, Wagner takes small steps towards the parking lot, the clanking of her heels being the only sound heard in the night, the rhythm of her heels growing ever faster and longer before beginning to turn into a fast stride, she lowers herself to the ground and takes a large leap towards the sky, the moonlight shows the knight’s silhouette in the air before it´s drown out by a blazing flame enveloping the knight, she begins to fall down the earth aiming her short word at the void army while beginning to spin towards them.

The slender figure begins to be creating a spiral of flame like a comet crashing to the earth, the voids look up at the blazing storm above them, but its already too late. A blinding light envelopes the parking lot, briefly blinding Orie looking on the sidelines, a large boom is heard as an explosion of hellfire and concrete flies throughout the parking lot, the crashing sound reverberates on Orie´s eardrums being unable to hold her need to cover her ears with a collateral blaze that warms Orie’s face to the point beginning to hurt her skin.

Multiple voids can be visibly burned to ash as others fly off from the fiery explosion, in the middle of the crater of impact Wagner can be seen covered in ashes as she lunges towards the large crowd of voids left alive, the Flame Tyrant slices through the monsters, providing a brutal showcase of fire and brimstone as Wagner crashes through them, providing a red hue lighting the empty parking lot revealing the large amount of dark figures surrounding her, whether it´s by slashing the heads off the void with her blade of fire, or crushing their bodies with her shield and boots, she overshadows her noble appearance with her barbarous combat ability not giving mercy to any creature that lurks in the shadows.

As this event is transpiring, Orie can´t help but look in awe and fear at what the Flame Tyrant is capable of. Orie finally understand where her infamous title came from, her ruthless attacks hold the same power and speed as of a wild animal, and her wicked crimson eyes can be seen even with the distance placed between the two of them.

As she contemplates at this show of brutality, Wagner pierces Orie with her inhuman gaze, as if to invite her to the carnage unfolding. Orie takes a small gulp and creates a flash of light as a silver rapier appears from her right hand, she takes a second to hold her rapier to her body to center herself and prepare for the coming battle.

Orie takes light but firms steps towards the battlefield, she is now in the edge of the storm, the voids notice the azure knight, she stops and remains unmoving for a second, she slowly prepares a lunging stance holding back her right arm as she steadies her rapier with the left. As she takes position, her blue eyes slowly close and her breathing stops, the voids jump towards her, as they lunge toward her, a spear of light pierces through the crowd followed by the wind flowing through their now hollow bodies, by the time the voids acknowledge what has happened, the azure knight is gone and has already appeared behind them, the wind finally catches up to Orie flowing her dress forward as she slowly realigns herself from her lunging stance and sees the group of void slowly fall to the ground.

She exhales for a long time and with a face full of determination she enters deeper into the fight, as Orie runs towards the army of dark creatures, she front flips through the air with the grace of a dancer and as she falls like a petal on the concrete floor she crouches down and whispers to the wind “Thanatos” in which a strange figure begins to appear above her in the middle of the large group of voids surrounding her. A large object cleaves through the group of voids slicing them effortlessly in half like a crescent moon slashing through the darkness. As the voids fall to the ground, a large figure slowly stops the powerful swing that came from its great sword which shines with a white glow and rises to a standing position. Orie stands up alongside her indomitable companion.

The figure appears to be a large knight on a clear white armor with black horns and flowing blonde hair with black legs ending with surreal white spires as it floats above the ground, it holds an imposing great sword of white steel with a gold frame, it is the living image of a holy knight.

Wagner takes notice of Orie´s actions as she continues her ruthless onslaught of her enemies. The knights continue to take back the night with lights of their own. After the last of the void falls, they take a moment to analyze the aftermath of the battle, large gashes are spread throughout the concrete as if a continuous bombardment has taken place, the light posts that used to shine the parking lot are all crushed and destroyed, and the few unfortunate vehicles that were parked had become nothing more than scrap metal.

Orie tries to catch her breath having trouble getting back her composure after fighting for hours as more and more voids approached the knights during their battle.

“I can´t believe how many voids have appeared in this city, how is this possible?” Orie says while struggling to breathe.

Wagner responds “Despite their reasons, they were right to bring me here” as she tilts her head towards Orie and continues “..and at least you weren´t worthless on the battle, I suppose the organization still holds some semblance of control to who they give their title of executor to.”

Orie surprised at Wagner´s words she regains her composure and says, “Thank you for your kind words.” While doing a slight bow.

“It is not a compliment; it is the bare minimum of what a knight of the Licht Kreis needs to do to be able to stand a chance against its enemies.” Says Wagner with an air of superiority. “Even still, your ability in battle needs work” Wagner glances at the multiple wounds and bruises that Orie has while wearing her ruined blue dress.

“I guess you have a point, but nevertheless I will devote my heart and body to rid if any threat to this town and its inhabitants no matter the damage that befalls me.” Orie says with eyes and words filled with conviction.

Wagner can´t help but raise a brow in surprise at the azure knight´s bold words differing from her previous meek attitude giving the slightest sign of a grin before quickly going back to her distinguished self. “I expect you provide a better showing the next night, I won´t be holding your hand like I did today.”

Orie furrows her brow and gives Wagner a solemn nod as the sun begins to rise in the distant horizon.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The city awakens with a clear cerulean sky, it´s daily routine begins again like clockwork, life springs back in the environment and the setting that served as the stage for a grueling battle a couple hours before has now come back to its peaceful state, as if the past has never happened. The only proof left of the past is the policemen investigating the parking lot, bewildered as what it that happened that night, and even more important, why did it happen in the first place.

As we get closer towards the city, the azure lady walks through a familiar sidewalk, ready to continue her studies. Unlike yesterday in the morning, her step is slower and more careful, as if trying to avoid any sudden movements with her body. Luckily, her long blue dress covers most of the bruises and cuts she received that previous night saving her time on trying to make any believable excuse on her appearance.

The walk is peaceful and almost soothing for her soul, once again seeing the true colors of the city that she is fighting for and at the same time, reminding her the weight that lies on her shoulders. The apricot leaves falling around gives her a moment to reflect on that night, seeing firsthand the Flame Tyrant in action and the severity of the void menace that lurks in this town. Trying to find a way to properly approach the two matters at hand.

Lost in thoughts alone, she didn´t notice she was already at her school, she regains her senses and continues her academic studies. After a few hours, she is halfway through her classes having time to take a lunch break, as she walks by, she sees a familiar figure in the school´s library, Hyde appears to be studying something, but his distressed face gives a signal that he clearly isn´t having an easy time.

Having nothing better to do, Orie decides to go towards him, as Hyde raises his gaze, he gives a visible smile of joy towards Orie, due to the fact that he finally has an excuse to ignore the study he was attempting to do, but after a few seconds he realizes the person he is dealing with and his faltering smile shows that he has realized his torturous study might take longer than expected.

“I didn´t expect you to be the type to study at break” Orie says happy to see the boy taking his studies seriously.

“It´s not that I want to, it´s that I have too.” Hyde responds with a clear lack of enthusiasm “Teach decided to give us a day of notice before the mid semester exams, as you might´ve guessed I haven´t been uhh up to date with the topic” Hyde continues as he ruffles his hair.

Orie looks at Hyde as a mother looks at her child after receiving his grade card in after a long sigh she says “What´s the topic? I could help you”

“Knew you would say that...” Hyde whispers to himself.

“Mhhm?” Orie replies

“Nothing nothing, you know, you don´t have to help me if you don´t want, you prob have better stuff to do” Hyde says indirectly trying to stop himself of continuing his studies.

“Not a chance, you have helped me before, now it´s my turn to help you” Orie emphasizes

Seeing Orie´s genuine worry for him, Hyde can´t help but have a sense of guilt because of his attempts to run away from his predicament, he looks at the young lady in the eye and responds. “Ok, let´s do this thing”.

Orie smiles and the pair sit together analyzing the large amount of topics Hyde must learn and the even bigger number of mistakes he has made.

After half an hour, the pair can be seen speaking at each other loudly, disturbing the rest of the students trying to study in a quiet manner the pair complains to each other as Hyde signals at the book with both his arms in disdain looking at Orie, Orie shakes her head and points towards the book with a single finger, Hyde looks at the finger and after a moment of observation he spins his head back with a visible grown that could be seen even from the outside of the school premises.

“You are putting the decimal in the wrong place Hyde.” Orie says as she tries her best to remain patient.

“I think it´s more of a matter of opinion Orie” Hyde retorts at the nagging instructor.

Orie takes a couple seconds to look at Hyde with shock and loudly exclaims “What do you mean a matter of opinion!? It´s Math! This isn´t art class!

¨Says you!” Hyde says in a childish tone

Orie not believing the gall of the boy´s words she takes a couple steps away from the table, looks at the sky hoping for a higher being to either give her strength or an answer and slowly comes back with a forced smile on her face and says to Hyde “Please, just… do the formula again.” As Orie increases her smile to an obscene degree.

Hyde reluctantly erases his valuable 5 minutes of work and continues with his grand odyssey.

After a long and hard battle, it is finally over, the two warriors lay exhausted with their heads on the table, they have finished the topics, but at what cost? This bittersweet ending will be a memory that will last them a lifetime.

¨It is done…”, Orie says having her soul drained from this encounter.

Hyde uses every fiber of his being to lift his head up and mentions “I know we started this study on the wrong foot and I might have not wanted this to begin with…..but thanks, I mean it.”

Hyde´s words give a small boost of life at Orie´s soul and begins to have a subtle smile on her face, eyes closed as if she was trying to hold back tears, like mother looking at her baby walk for the first time. “Don´t mention it, Orie quietly responds.

Their rest is quickly disrupted by the sound of the school bell signaling the end of Orie´s break, as she tries to stand up from her chair, she jerks back down with a loud groan of pain most likely from her battle scars, she tries to stabilize herself with her arm serving as a support on the table.

“You okay Orie?” Hyde says in a worried tone as he quickly stands up. He quickly puts Orie´s arm on his shoulders so she can be in a more comfortable position. “Was I really that bad at math that I physically hurt you?” Hyde says in a joking manner.

Orie gives a pained giggle and says, “Hehe, no no it´s just that I had a bit of an injury yesterday”

Hyde expressions shows more worry “And you decided to not only go to school like that, you even helped me with my damn studies?”

“I guess so…” Orie responds with her brow raised and an apologetic expression.

Hyde sighs “You shouldn´t be here, you should be resting at home, here I can take you there if you like”

“No, its fine, I’m fine” Orie says as she tries to stand on her own but her back falters

Hyde catches her again and without a second thought, he supports her outside the school and just ask a single question “Where´s your house?”

After a couple hours, the pair slowly walk together along the sidewalk they both know well, their figures have splashes of orange from the fleeting sunrays with their figures dotted by shadows from the falling autumn leaves. Orie finds this scenery rather pleasing, as she does not have the chance to see this view, because she´s in the middle of class at this time of day.

She also can´t help to feel at ease, having someone finally supporting her even if it´s in the literal sense, despite the respect she holds for her organization and sisters, they have never been the kind to explicitly look out for each, only few hold the kindness like Silvaria does, they act more as a small army rather than a group, but the longer she reflects on it, she quicker she remembers that she is just a soldier doing her duty… nothing more.

As much as she wished to be supported like this for a while longer, she knows she must walk quicker as she wouldn´t want to put Hyde´s life at risk with him being in the middle of the night. She removes her arm from Hyde´s shoulder and forces herself to walk normally, while struggling at first, she slowly regains her usual composure as they keep walking.

“You shouldn´t push yourself that hard…” Hyde says snapping Orie out of her mind “if you keep going like this you will end up burning yourself out…” Hyde continues in a despondent tone

Orie looks at Hyde with a bitter smile “It was just a small bruise nothing more”

“Bruises make you in scream in pain a few seconds and you forget about them 10 minutes later, they don´t make it impossible to walk…” Hyde says in a more serious tone.

“It was just bad luck” Orie replies in a soft voice

“Even so, you should be resting rather than going to school and helping others like me, no one will blame you for it, we are just human” Hyde retorts

Orie gives a small chuckle reflecting on Hyde´s words and says, “You are wrong, I have the keep up, there are some things I must do.” She says still in a low voice and with her eyes on the ground.

Annoyed, Hyde stops himself and Orie on their tracks, places his hands on both of Orie´s shoulders, looks at her straight in the eye and says “and are you fine with that? Look at me in the eye and tell me that you are fine trying to keep up your image as you have said before? Are you fine having to deny yourself any care to your own wellbeing just doing what others expect of you? Are you fine helping others without helping yourself first?

Orie looks into Hyde´s crimson eyes in silence, she does not recall how much time has passed since she has locked eyes with him, could have been seconds, could have been hours. The city, the trees, the leaves, the encroaching darkness in the sky is all gone, in this single moment, the only thing in her sight is Hyde´s worried stare and her own self. A lifetime passes by as they both look each other in silence and Orie finally looks away from Hyde´s gaze. Hyde shows a look of pity towards the young lady and the Orie says while continuing to walk away from him. “I´m fine now…. i can walk back home, you can go now…”

Hyde stays in silence for a moment before boldly asking “I´ll let you go home alone if you promise me something”

Orie turns around and asks him with a downcast expression “What is it?”

“I know a place that might help you with your worries…promise tomorrow that we´ll go there after school…” Hyde says in a worried tone.

Orie takes a moment to reflect on Hyde´s offer and says “I will if you promise me one thing yourself…. please go back home as fast as you can…” 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The white moon lies at its highest point, the dark blue sky is obscured by the large concrete structures that have now lost all the radiance from its windows, the only source of light are the light posts scattered around throughout the city giving barely enough visibility of this landscape that appears to be forsaken by humanity.

As the town lies motionless, Orie can be seen walking towards her usual point of reunion, Wagner already waiting next to the park´s fountain.

“You are late” Wagner says slightly annoyed.

“Forgive me, I had some matters to take care of.” Responds Orie. Despite her excuse, Orie knows that the reason she took longer to arrive than usual, is that she had to slow her pace to lower any strain on her injured body. Orie can currently only feel a light dull pain, but that is mostly because of the heavy painkillers she took before arriving. “This will do.” Orie thinks to herself, she cannot let Wagner be more disappointed by her performance.

“Never mind that, looking at our previous outing, I´ve decided that we need to split up and take different sections of the city. The voids are large in numbers and we cannot waste manpower taking care of one location at a time.” Wagner looks at Orie in the eye and asks. “Any objections?”

“No Wagner” Orie responds.

“Good, you should be able to at least hold your own throughout the night. In that case I will take the East side of the city and you take the West side, we shall rendezvous here in 4 hours sharp, any more than that and the we should expect the worst, that goes to you more than me, better stay sharp if you don´t want that event to happen.”

“I understand, good luck to you Wagner, hope to meet you here.” Orie says in an earnest manner while doing a small bow.

Wagner takes a long look at Orie then goes on her way. Orie takes her leave as well.

Hours pass as Orie has taken care of combing a good part of the city, surprisingly, little to no void activity has been seen throughout the night, Orie is dumbfounded by the lack of voids compared to the previous time, especially for the fact that they should be attracted to someone with her abilities, but a part of her is glad she doesn´t have to force her body too much giving her more time to recover.

The city remains dormant, no sound can be heard, the only movement seen are the dead leaves floating every now and then blowing through the concrete floor. Orie can´t help but feel a sense of anxiety as if something is waiting for her to drop down her guard.

Two hours have passed since she had left the park, still no void activity to be found. Even though she has yet to wield her blade, she feels mentally exhausted trying to stay vigilant for a long time and the fact that she has yet to receive any threat makes her even more tired. But as she her way, she sees some signs of damage on the concrete.

Large craters on the ground can be found throughout the streets as if they were made from a blunt object like a steel girder. Finally, after all this time, Orie has a lead to find any potential void threats, as she slowly investigates the street, she finds large amounts of glass shards sprinkled along the ground from the nearby glass windows covering the large buildings, they don’t seem to have been partially broken by any instrument or strike, but they were completely shattered as if a shockwave had demolished them, the fact that even the windows from the third floor have been shattered worries Orie. She continues to walk to the direction of the destruction until she arrives at what appears to be the city´s commercial mall.

It appears she has arrived closer to the source of the destruction; the light posts have been bent as if something has thrown an object with incredible force. The ticket booth where civilians pay their parking tickets has been smashed. The ground of the parking lot has been torn asunder as if a large excavator has been digging into the ground for the last couple days. Orie tenses up, any void of this caliber will be a tough opponent and she must thread lightly as she gets closer and closer to the culprit.

Arriving at the center of the Mall, she find the interior demolished as if a tornado has passed through the inside of the building, the small store isles that reside in the middle of the path were obliterated, the multiple stores placed along the malls walls have been smashed, with everything inside, the ground razed creating small canyons throughout the path. Orie begins to think to herself. “What could have done such a thing? Why must a void go this far to capture its prey?” As she continues through the ravaged mall center she is shocked by the scene before her, voids, multiple of them strewn along the mall´s cafeteria, their bodies are all trampled as if they were run over by a truck. Some of plastered on the walls inside of craters as if they were forcefully planted there.

The scene puts Orie confused and worried. “It´s not a void…., if it wasn´t a void then….no, no human could´ve done this, this destruction appears to have been made by a monster.” As she says these words, she remembers Silvaria mentioning how the void here appear to be attracted by certain individuals, maybe she was referring to individuals with the same ability as her or Wagner, but even then…. this level of mayhem is too much even for a person of that ability.

Orie begins to look all around, making sure she isn´t followed, her sides, the ceiling, the upper level of the mall, she quietly takes note of every part of her surroundings as to avoid being in a unfavorable position against this monster. A large thud can be heard in the distance, the sound makes Orie flinch and every muscle in her body twitches in response, as the thud is heard, she hears multiple familiar screeches coming from voids, one by one they are abruptly silenced until nothing can be heard once more. Orie´s instinct tells her to run away, but she can´t let something like this run rampant on the city.

Orie takes small mindful steps as to not alert the thing destroying the voids, “If it’s taking care of the voids , maybe it’s a person from another organization like the Night Blade, she could reason with them and have a ceasefire and both continue their own way, but no, no night blade would do damage of this level” Orie thinks to herself. “But what if it’s another in birth like me, but one that has lost control to the void and is rampaging the streets, they could be a larger threat to this city than any void group would.” Behind all her thoughts and question, the only way she would get an answer was to get closer to the source of all this destruction, and this frightens Orie. Despite that, Orie brandishes her rapier, ready to take on whatever lies ahead. She has entered a large clothing store inside the mall, the surrounding area has been blown away as if a bomb has gone off inside it, voids are spread on the store, broken and crushed, as she continues analyzing she sees a large figure standing in the middle of the destruction.

There stood a man with a large muscular frame. His dark complexion is only contrasted by his light gray hair, it´s short and feathered. The left side of his body appears to be covered in purple tattoos and to each of his wrist, he holds large iron cuffs with chains dangling from them. His apparel reminds Orie of a monk as he dons long robes taken off his shoulders only covering him from the waist down, the robes give a combination of white and purple colors. The large figure begins to turn around slowly most likely noticing Orie´s presence, Orie quickly takes her fencing position, every part of her body tenses up, she inadvertently stops breathing as she expects to be attacked at any moment, but as the figure turns, Orie is disturbed by its face. The monk´s expression shows none of the rage, the fury, the sheer amount of power that was left behind in his path of destruction. The only thing she sees is a man, his harmonious expressions shows no hate or animosity, his barely opened eyes give a sense of harmony, and his stance shows an overwhelming feeling of peace.

The large figure looks at Orie, she flinches to a fighting stance in response, the monk´s face undeterred by this act of aggression, slowly looks down at Orie´s rapier then back up again at her eyes. While looking at her, he slowly walk towards her on his bare feet, barely heard only occasionally by him pushing away the crumbled concrete or the broken void that laid on the ground, Orie´s legs are unresponsive, she wants to jump back, but her legs feel as if they have been chained to large rocks denying her any chance of escaping, the monk continues walking towards her, his face still yet to show any sense of danger. Despite the monk´s demeanor, Orie can´t help but feel overwhelmed by his presence as if her shoulders are being pushed down to the ground by him, avoiding her to move. After an unbearable amount of time, the monk stands before her, towering over the azure knight.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Two figures stand in front of one another, close enough that both could hear the other breathing, as the towering man stands in front of Orie, she regains control of herself and steps back. “Identify yourself!” Orie exclaims pointing her rapier towards the monk.

The monk remains motionless staring at the knight in silence until he responds “I have no reason to answer you” he answers in a soothing voice.

“What are you doing at this time of night, what group do you belong to? Orie questions him in a serious tone.

The monk takes a moment to answers and replies “I was looking for a worthy encounter in this night, but unfortunately I´ve only been met with the rats that infest this city.” He looks at the fallen void splattered on the ground. “And it appears I’ve yet to find anything of interest.” He says turning around and walking on the opposite direction of Orie.

“Stop right there!” Orie shouts “You have yet to answer me to what organization you belong to!”

The monk stops moving, looking back at Orie once more and states “If you have to know, I belong to a group called Amnesia.”

Orie´s eyes widen as she hears those words, she readies herself and announces “I am Orie Ballardiae, Executor of Licht Kreis. Your words have confirmed you are an enemy to our organization.” Her demeanor becomes aggressive as she continues to point her blade at the monk.

“Ah, so you are one of them… I suppose you would have a reason to face me, but for your own sake I suggest you walk along knight of the Licht Kreis.” The man responds in a calm tone.

“It is my duty, to take care of those who would disrupt the night, your affiliation and the destruction you have caused is more than enough reason to face you.” Orie claims in a resolute voice.

“…I can see the determination in your actions despite your lack of strength, it would be a shame having to cut a flower bud before it ever blooms. I will say this only once, you cannot defeat me, no need to throw your life away at such a young age.” His eyes open slightly revealing his tranquil eyes.

Orie reflects on the monk´s words but she doesn´t waver, she gives him a defiant statement. “Whether or not I can defeat you, that answer will only be found in battle, prepare yourself!”

The monk takes notice of the azure knight’s determination and calmly responds. “So be it… I am Gaien Enkidu and I will answer your call to battle, may you eventually understand the severity of your words.” Enkidu begins to move his entire body in a single fluid motion, as he ends in a battle stance.”

Orie sees that Enkidu appears to not have any weapons on his hand, besides his own two fists. She gauges the opponent before him.

Enkidu stays motionless looking at Orie as if he is waiting for her first move. Orie in the other begins to slowly circle him maintaining her fencing stance, slowly one step at a time, both of the fighters staring at each other never breaking contact.

A large blade swings towards the back of Enkidu´s neck. He quickly lowers his body avoiding the blade by the skin of his teeth, he swing his hips using his powerful legs to attack the mysterious being with his right elbow, the figure disappears before he could strike it. He hears the wind whistle and quickly turns around to where Orie was, the knight is already mid lunge, the dust from the broken concrete makes way as the knight takes her chance to strike at its recovering opponent, as her blade drives towards his opponent´s heart, the monk maneuvers his left arm towards the rapier, the palm of his hand collides with the side of her blade, parrying it away from his body.

Orie is surprised at the speed of her opponent despite his large frame, she knows she can´t let him take the offensive, as the monk parries her blade, behind him Thanatos swings horizontally at Enkidu´s legs, the man reacts with a spinning jump avoiding the great sword, as he touches the ground he quickly extends his right leg and uses the momentum to sweep Orie off her feet. Orie feels herself losing her footing as Enkidu´s leg strikes her feeling as if she were hit by a steel pipe.

Enkidu quickly centers himself preparing to drive his elbow downward towards the knight´s head. Orie in turns arches her back avoiding the strike, she reaches the ground with her left arm, and backflips away from the monk. Orie rebounds as soon as she touches the ground taking a large leap in the air towards his opponent once more, as Enkidu looks upwards, Thanatos can be seen on the ground, lunging towards the warrior, driving its blade through the ground creating sparks and light in its wake, Enkidu’s takes notice of the Phantom´s actions and sidesteps Thanatos’s large upward swing bringing with it gravel and dust in an attempt to obscure Enkidu´s sight.

As he regains his perception he sees Orie in the air charging towards him, he quickly moves both his arms towards the Azure knight´s blade, his left pushing the hilt upwards as the right pushes the tip downwards narrowly missing his left eye. The movement sends Orie flying backwards and crashing intio the ceiling of the store. Wincing from the pain, Orie lands once more on the ground.

Both of them take time acknowledging the battle walking slowly towards each other before Orie takes the offensive again, lunging towards the large warrior, she performs a series of blow trying to pierce Enkidu’s body, on the same rhythm, Enkidu maneuvers through the multitude of strikes as he steps backwards moving his hips, his upper body and legs with relative ease, every movement he makes is miniscule but significant. As he sees an opening, Enkidu, punches Orie´s dominant hand, the blow knocks her back in the air, she feels her fingers ache in pain as she receives the powerful blow making it hard to wield her blade. Enkidu follows her trajectory, taking a small forward leap taking a fast spin as he lands with his left leg and prepares to strike with his right.

As Orie regains her footing and raises her head she is centimeters away from Enkidu´s right foot, ready to take her head off, her eyes widen, she hastily moves her head out of the way narrowly missing its target only being able to strike her long blue hair. Missing the knight, Enkidu drives his right leg to the ground and with the power of his right ankle he spins himself around. As he turns, he raises his left leg into the air, before pushing it back into the earth, Orie evades the attack, the leg crashes with a powerful force creating a large crater in its place. Orie shudders thinking what would had happened if she had been hit by a blow of that magnitude.

Orie tries to regain control of the situation, but Enkidu continues his offensive lunging towards her, Orie jumps back to try to keep him away, but as she keeps jumping, she bumps into a nearby wall, cornering her, the monk takes advantage cocking his left arm back as he runs towards her, she strikes for her head once more, but barely misses, the strike leaves cracks on the wall behind Orie, she tries to dash away from him but manages to catch her left arm with his right, the grip is powerful, Orie feels it getting stronger and stronger becoming almost unbearable. Enkidu shifts his entire body as he throws her against the corner, she strikes the wall with the back her head briefly blinding her, she can only see a large figure running towards her, in desperation, she summons Thanatos to swing at his general direction briefly stopping Enkidu´s advance, recovering her senses she tries to get away from her predicament, being cornered like this will spell her doom.

Orie signals Thanatos to swing at the monk, hoping a find an opening to get a better position. Thanatos throws a large horizontal swing as Enkidu runs toward the large blade, he takes an incredibly deep and low lunge avoiding the attack and running pass the Phantom. Enkidu pulls back his right arm ready to strike at the Azure Knight. With nowhere else to go, Orie has no choice but to embrace for the impact. Enkidu´s blow lands right on Orie´s stomach, despite her effort to block the punch with her arms they serve no protection as his fist collides with her arms and in turn her arms crash into her stomach, the attack leaves her staggered and unable to breathe.

Seeing the opportunity, Enkidu raises his right leg almost vertical to the ground before forcing it back down towards Orie, hardly capable of moving she raises her arm in an attempt to brace herself but meets the same result, her arms move aside as the kick lands on her left shoulder. Her stiff body does not buckle, but the ground near her feet cracks from the impact. Her eyes glaze over as she begins to falls unconscious, as she returns from the world of the living mid descent, she only sees Enkidu far away running towards her at full speed, she tries to move away, but the pain from her previous injuries return at full force making her unable to move. The monk takes two long and powerful steps as he charges towards her leg first, dropkicking her.

The dropkick hits Orie to the core, every bone in her body creaks from the power of Enkidu´s kick, she crashes through the wall into a smaller store. She lays there in the ground trying to get up but only achieving small spams, unable to get up from the pain of her past injuries and the current ones she has received in this fight. She sees the large figure raising his leg once more ready to finish her off but in a last stand she summons Thanatos blocking the kick with his large blade, despite the strength of the floating phantom it bends its knee as he is pushed to the ground by the axe kick, the ground shakes but both the monk and the phantom are locked in a battle of strength, Orie slowly get herself up having minor flinches and spams as she raises herself once more.

The phantom is finally able to move Enkidu´s leg aside to give him an attack of his own, he wields his sword back preparing for a large upward strike, Enkidu anticipates this and moves to his left motioning his body to strike the phantom from the side of its head. But as the monk is mid wind up, the Phantom instead drives his great sword hilt first to give a quick strike at Enkidu´s right eye with its handle, the blow lands, Enkidu winces from the attack. The phantom flies to the right side of Enkidu´s blind spot to swing horizontally towards him, Enkidu isn´t capable of avoiding the attack so as a last resort uses the shackle of his right wrist to block the swing, the great sword connects with the iron cuff and bounces off into Enkidu´s right arm cutting into it. The strike isn´t deep enough to cut his arm off, but forces Enkidu to take a step back. Orie regains her footing, but she is too hurt to attack, her muscles ache and she can barely stand up properly as it is. She knows it´s all or nothing, a single decisive strike to take him down otherwise it will be the last mistake she ever makes.

The Phantom prepares its great sword, a white hue envelops the blade. Enkidu looks at the final wall between him and his opponent. He closes his feet together, fists to his body and centers himself, takes a deep breath, opens his eyes to look at his foe, motions himself to his battle stance and dashes towards him. Thanatos swings from his right, Enkidu dashes to his left in anticipation, but the phantom stops the momentum of his swing to strike from the other direction, Enkidu in turn uses the palm of his hand to strike at the large blade from its center and send it upwards leaving the phantom open for an attack. As he gets closer to strike at the phantom, Thanatos counters the offensive by pushing the hilt of his blade towards Enkidu using it as a makeshift blunt weapon. “The same trick wont work twice…” he grabs the hilt of the Phantom´s sword and headbutts the holy knight with great strength knocking Thanatos to the ground.

The last line of defense was broken, Orie in desperation barely holds her fencing stance to prepare for the monk that is rushing towards her, she stabs at her opponent but the strike was slow and easy to evade, Enkidu shifts his left shoulder downwards to avoid the blow, and raises his right shoulder to prepare to strike Orie with an uppercut. The palm of his hands lands straight on Orie´s chin, she´s gone, the life from her eyes disappears as Enkidu grabs her right arm with his right hand and uses his left leg to sweep hers from the ground, she lays parallel to the pavement barely holding on, she can only see what appears to be a large figure holding his left arm back ready to strike her down. Seeing the events happening in slow motion, she only gets enough time for a single thought. “…Forgive me Hy-“

The grounds cracks, a large thud echoes throughout the mall and the Phantom laying on the ground disappears in a flash of light. The echo resounds for a long time before coming to a slow and fleeting end, leaving behind a deafening silence.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The world is filled in absolute darkness, currently no sense of time or place can be felt, barely recognizing the current endeavor Orie lays in a vast, empty plane. Orie cannot tell whether or not she is in a vast sea of black that has no recognizable limit, or if she’s immobilized in a small coffin preventing her from seeing any of her surroundings. Either way, the young girl has no ability to move much to her own dismay. The first signs of feelings she has is of a dull pain coming from her head, at first it's not much, but as Orie regains some semblance of self-awareness, the pain becomes stronger and stronger until an overwhelming sense of pain fills her head.

The knight attempts to move to grasp her head in response, but her fears become more prevalent as she cannot feel neither her arms or legs, she lies in this world of darkness not being able to see where she even is. As Orie tries to move, she feels another sense of pain in her ethereal body, the young lady´s back creates a sharp sense of pain, she tries to groan but no sound comes out. As much as the girl hates her current situation, Orie can feel more and more of her body due to her discomfort..

As Orie lays there motionless, trying to recover any of her other senses besides feeling her body ache in pain, she feels something else, a warm glow on her entire body. This sense of warm is irregular, it wanes or comes back stronger than before at irregular intervals. Every now and then she can feel vibrations on the bottom of her body finally signaling that she is laying on firm ground. Her hearing slowly but surely begins to return. The girl can hear fire rushing in the distance, the sound of metal slicing the air, horrifying screeches as if wraiths have appeared and now are attacking the mortal realm.

The girl finally feels her own eyelids and attempts to open them, she was only successful in opening the right eye and even then, only to a small degree. As she tried to open her other eye, she was stopped by the uncomfortable feeling of a warm liquid covering her left eye. “….Blood?.....Yes…I was fighting someone…I…remember now…how could i-“ As the Azure Knight begins to recollect her thoughts she is startled by the feeling of the earth shaking and the sound of flames as if she´s in a conveyor belt ready to be thrown into a large oven..

Orie looks towards the origin of the commotion, it was Wagner fighting a cluster of voids as more flood the building looking to destroy the Flame Tyrant. She looks around herself, with her limited view, she notices she’s in a small commercial shop, completely destroyed, her head appears to be laying on a small crater, she attempts to remember more details, but the young girl's mind comes to a blank not being able to recall how she ended there.

The efforts have taken a toll on Orie, a sense of dizziness overcomes her, it becomes harder to move her head, her vision begins to darken until she can't see once more, once more in darkness unmoving and unfeeling.

A lifetime passes by before Orie claws herself back from the darkness, the hard, concrete floor has been replaced by soft textured ground as if she were sleeping atop a silk dress. The pain felt on her head and back are still there, but have lowered to a dull pain, she stops feeling blood on the left side of her face. Orie opens her eyes again, her vision is blurry, but she can recognize she´s not the commercial mall anymore, it appears to be a small room, a large expansive light flashing her eyes catches the girls attention, she attempts to move her arms, finally they move again, but her movements are slow and sluggish, she rubs her eyes to get a better view of the light.

It's the city, the entirety of it, she can see the large cluster of buildings standing proudly upon this large expansive land, the rising sun giving form to this bipolar metropolis. Orie appears to be residing multiple floors above the ground, probably resting on one of the tall constructions towering the city.

She takes her eyes off the skyline and into the unknown room the girl is currently in. The bed she's sleeping in is a large luxurious bed, the pillows and blankets Orie is resting on feel soft to the touch with fabric of the highest quality. The room has a refined style, filled with ornate decorations. At one of its corners there lies a grand piano and a violin, even from this distance she can tell they are made from exquisite materials. The bed is covered with what appears to be medical materials, alcohol, wet towels tainted with blood, syringes, water, and unrecognizable bottles of cream and a multitude of other things keeping Orie company.

The muffled sounds of the clack of high heel boots can be heard in the distance getting closer until the door at the end of the room opens, it´s Wagner holding bandages, she stops noticing that Orie is awake and in a frigid voice she says “So, you´ve finally woken up.” Wagner walks towards the injured knight and leaves the bandages on the furniture that resides next to bed. “Good, this will make my job easier, raise yourself.”

Orie takes a moment to look at Wagner lost in thought.

“Didn’t you hear me? Raise your upper body.” Wagner continues.

Orie finally acknowledges the order she tries to lift herself up, but she fails to do so. “Ghh!” Orie recoils even with her pain reduced to the unbearable feeling that it was before.

Wagner looks at the faltering knights and tells her in a reserved tone. “Lift your arms.”

Orie complies. Wagner in turn holds Wagner from under each shoulder and slowly raises the Azure Knights’ upper body, Orie winces but manages to keep her composure. The action reveals that Orie is currently not wearing her usual blue dress, she only has bandages covering her body from the waist up, embarrassed, she quickly covers herself with the bed sheets.

“It's already too late to keep decorum, now let go of the sheets, I’m not done yet.” Wagner says with little emotion.

Orie takes a couple seconds to do so, but eventually she lowers the sheets.

Wagner takes a hold of one of the bottles of cream in bed and puts some of it on her hands and asks. “Show your back to me”

The flustered girl slowly begins to show her back to Wagner.

Wagner in turn begins to massage Orie´s shoulders with the cream, the cold touch makes Orie give a small yelp, but even then, she begins to feel relief helping with reducing the pain on her shoulders.

Orie feels Wagner´s hands on her, they are small and soft to the touch, but still hold a firm grip. She moves her head to get a better look at her companion´s hands, they are white as snow, but that same color reveals the imperfections on them. They appear to be covered in scratches on her fingers and even more throughout the palm of her hands, the use of her blade and shield probably has worn them down throughout multiple battles. She can see Wagner is still wearing her battle dress, it has been damaged, her cape is in tatters, parts of her coat have been clawed off, and a couple slashes reveal Wagner´s damaged skin.

“Thank you.” Orie says in a quiet voice

“Tell me what happened there.” Wagner says in a stern tone. “I don't think the voids overwhelmed you, otherwise you'd already be dead.”

Orie takes a moment to steady herself and says, “You are right, it wasn´t the void, it was an in birth from Amnesia.”

“Describe this person to me. How did he look? Wagner pressures Orie for more information.

“He looked like a monk; I believe he called himself Enkidu.” Orie in a feeble voice

Wagner´s hands stop for a moment, before continuing again. “Enkidu huh, I’m surprised you are still here then.”

“You've met him before?” Orie asks in a curious tone.

“Never met him in person, but I have heard stories here and there, not much information has been known of him, he's relatively new to Amnesia. But the few things I´ve heard of him is that he´s a formidable fighter, recon teams have tried to get information, but few have returned safely, many are still comatose and are being taken care of by the Licht Kreis. Judging by your state I guess he also has no issue taking down an executor such as yourself.” 

Orie lowers her head disappointed by the turn of events. “How…did you find me? The girl asks.

“I went back to the park at the established time, you weren't there so I thought you had died. The night was still young, so I went to confirm. Noticed a trail of destruction along your side of the city and ended up finding you. Much to my surprise, you were still breathing.” As Wagner speaks, she begins to cover Orie´s shoulders in bandages trying to keep the cream on her skin as much as possible.

“You shouldn't have, I put both of us in danger because of my actions.” Orie speaks, her defeated eyes looking at the current state of the Flame Tyrant.

“I´ve been in worse situations, a small army of weaklings like them are no match for me. Besides, the Licht Kreis would lower my status even more if the person supposedly supervising me dies.” Wagner tightens the bandages around Orie´s shoulders, she flinches but goes back to her resting position.

“I´m sorry if I have been a burden to you Wanger” The discouraged knight says covering herself once more.

“I don´t need your apologies, I need you blade. Wagner says piercing Orie´s yes before looking down at the medical tools surrounding her. “But for that you´ll have to rest for the time being, I administered your morphine to reduce the pain, but that by itself won't heal you. You will have to take this anti-inflammatory cream with you, apply on your damaged areas then bandage them, change them daily, also take these pills.” Wagner shows Orie her medicine for treatment. “I will also give you some doses of morphine, but they are ONLY to be used if you have extreme pain. After that you´ll have to let your muscles rest by staying in bed and not doing heavy activities.”

“You really seem to be knowledgeable about this Wagner, almost sound like a doctor.” Orie gives a small earnest smile, surprised at Wagner´s professional attitude.

Wagner´s demeanor for the first time shows a sign of modesty and answers. “I…keep myself busy at home, and having medical knowledge helps me heal my own wounds quicker.”

“In any case, thank you for all your aid, I will make sure to rest and be ready by the end of the day.” Orie attempts so move but her moves are still too sluggish most likely by the heavy painkillers administered to her.

“What part of rest did you not understand? Not only will you stay here to rest, but you will not participate in any night activities, you´ll be nothing more than deadweight in this condition.” Wagner states in a commanding tone.

“But I need to-Ghh!!” Orie tries to oppose the idea, but Wagner stabs the Azure knight´s shoulder with her thumb. “I didn't quite get that. Need to what?” The tyrant asks with a fiendish grin.

“Okay okay! I'll get some rest!” Orie exclaims in pain.

Wanger stops putting pressure on Orie´s shoulder and with a triumphant smile says “Good, better see you in fighting condition in two days, I have plans for you.”

Wagner then proceeds to remove all the equipment from the bed and leaves the room without saying another word.

Orie lays there wondering about the plans she has for her, the girl can't help but feel worried at what it could be. In the end there's no point in wondering about it now, even after waking up, Orie feels exhausted both physically and mentally. Taking a more comfortable position she closes her eyes and almost instantly falls into a deep sleep.

Hours pass by before Orie wakes once more, she is awakened by the sun proudly shining over the entire city showing the beautiful sapphire sky, the cars move quickly through the streets and the people walk along the sidewalks as if nothing had happened.

Her pain is almost all but gone, she tries to look around for her blue dress anywhere in the room, until she notices an antique chair with her own clothes folded, mostly destroyed but folded, nevertheless. Alongside her usual getup, she has another group of clothes on top of them with a small note left behind. “In case you want to keep decency.” The clothes are a charming white blouse with blue embroidery and a pleasing white skirt and a bag where she can hide her tattered clothes.

Orie mentally thanks Wagener for her kindness and continues to leave her apartment. As she departs from the tall building, Orie looks at the main lobby´s clock, it's almost 2 p.m. She has already missed school. As she steps outside, Orie feels guilty for missing her classes, but the girl panics more remembering her promise to Hyde. Not recognizing where she currently is, Orie comes back to the lobby to ask for directions to her school. She walks as fast as her body can taking care of not hurting herself again and hopes to intercept Hyde before classes end.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The sunlight is at its brightest point, the wind is strong, and the city is bustling with activity. A couple cop cars can be seen speeding through the city most likely looking at the damage caused near the commercial mall. A young girl can be seen walking briskly through the sidewalk, she dons a pleasant set of white clothes with blue embroidery. A couple people can't help but turn and look at her charming appearance. Even then, the girl is currently focused on getting to her destination as fast as she can.

Arriving at the school, she can see large groups of people walking out of the establishment all of them most likely going their own ways. She frantically looks arounds to see if she can find the boy she is looking for. “Hyde…. Hyde! The girl shouts in hopes to get a response.

“Over hereeee!” A faint voice can be heard in the distance, it´s Hyde running towards Orie, backpack in hand and having an expression of genuine excitement.

Relieved to have made it in time, she begins to walk towards him until they finally see each other face to face.

Hyde surprisingly says. “So,digging the casual getup.”

Orie takes a moment to know what he's talking about, but remembers her new set of clothes., “Ahh yes, do you like it?”

“Yeah, they look good on you.” Hyde bluntly states.

Orie can´t help but feel slightly embarrassed as she receives Hyde´s complement and after an alarmingly long time, Hyde finally processed the meaning of his words. Both of them end up flustered, but Hyde tries to change the subject as smoothly as possible.

“Well, I´m glad you took my advice to heart and decided to rest in the morning.” Hyde speaks while trying to hide his embarrassed face.

“Yes of course!” Orie responds with a smile followed by a drop of sweat going down her cheek and making sure her white blouse covers her bandages.

“Well, funny thing, I was going to show you some cool places around town, so you get more used to the place, but one of them was in the commercial mall. Apparently, some people ransacked the place so it's closed for the time being so uhhh, that's out the window.” Hyde says a bit ashamed. “BUT that won´t stop me, believe it or not i´m actually pretty creative..”

“At least more than your academic side I hope.” Orie replies with a small giggle.

“OH right!” Hyde begins frantically looking through his backpack. Orie can't help but wonder what he is looking for. The boy holds a pile of papers with both his hands, flaunting them straight at Orie´s face. “You can´t make fun of me anymore, I’m a new man!” Every word Hyde says is filled with pride.

It's A mathematics exam with a large A+ stamped on it, Hyde moves the paper aside to show his upbeat smile.

Orie takes a moment and is instantly delighted by the news. “See! I knew you had it in you!” She hugs Hyde hard and lifts him up without thinking glad that both their efforts weren't in vain.

“Woah!” Hyde is amazed by the slim girl’s strength but is too happy right now to care.

Orie finally drops him down and says “This is a perfect time to celebrate your achievement. Where shall we go? I'll pay for your efforts.”

“Nah this one is on me, without you I wouldn't have gotten that far.” Hyde says smiling, “Anyways, no time to waste, let's go!” Hyde shouts to the air, extending his arm high with his exam as a flag as proof of his victory.

The pair leaves the school, ready to enjoy the rest of the day.

“First off, I’ll take you to my favorite place for food. No better place to find food (for a good price).” Hyde presents her this shabby noodle restaurant that despites its conditions seems to be full of people all enjoying their dishes.

“Oh, I’ve never had noodles before.” Orie says as she clasps her hands feeling a sense of excitement.

“Really, you been livin under a rock or something?” Hyde, surprised at the young girl's devastating revelation.

“Oh it's just that I usually cook food at home, I’ve never really had the more… local foods in this city.” Orie answers as she takes a glance at the small restaurant.

“Well good thing you have me to show you around, come with me”. Hyde takes Orie gently by the hand and takes her inside. The young girl herself felt a bit embarrassed by the sudden contact.

She sees a large metal bar filled with stoves, fires almost reaching the ceiling, the sound of a multitude of pans frying all kinds of noodles. Ten conversations are taking place at the same time making it almost indecipherable to understand what they are speaking and loud enough for Orie to not be able to hear her own thoughts.

Orie feels a bit nervous being at such a lively place but Hyde encourages her to look at the menu. She sees all kinds of dishes with different soups and noodles, but a certain dish catches her attention. The emperor's decree, the flashy design of the dish and the warning of “not of the faint of heart” and Hyde´s confidence boost makes the young girl´s adventurous side shine. “That is the one I want” pointing at the peculiar dish.

“You sure about that?” Hyde tells with a worried face “That dish is more of the stronger side of things”

“But I want the most unique experience the restaurant can provide” imploring at the boy to get that dish

“I mean. it's your choice, but I’m warning you it’s a bit more spicy than normal dishes.” Hyde continues to give her reasons to avoid the unique dish.

“Oh posh, I’m sturdier than I look, you have no need to worry about me.” Orie says with a confident smile.

After Hyde drags the crying girl out of the noodle restaurant, he looks at her trying to hold back his laughter and asks her “Wanna get some ice cream?”

Orie looks at Hyde with tears in her eyes and without saying a word nods at him.

After a while, the pair ends up in a small ice cream stand in the middle of the park Orie has been many times before.

“You feelin better?” Hyde looks at the sad Orie

“I didn't think it was going to be that bad...” Orie says taking another bite at her ice cream

Hyde pats her back and says “Ha-ha, there's nothing wrong with knowing your limit, but don´t worry, the rest of the dishes are pretty good. I´ll show you some other time.”

“Thanks, I’ll try the others.” Orie then proceeds to bury her face in the ice cream to relieve her burning lips.

Taking a better look at the scenery she notices the stark difference now that she can see the park in all its glory. A park filled with people having pleasant conversations, children playing, dogs walking around wagging their tails, couples taking a nice lunch together. Compared to the meeting point she knows it as, she is aware there is more to see in this location, and is grateful to finally realize that.

Time passes by, the sun starts to descend, and the day seems to start to come to a close. After the pair finishes their ice cream, Hyde looks at Orie and says “Shame I couldn't take you to all the places I had in mind, but there's still one last place I want to show you.”

Both of them leave the park and begin walking towards the outskirts of the city waling for almost an hour, the concrete buildings begin to appear few and far between until there is nothing more than green plains, and mountains, the large bustling sounds are changed by the whistling of the wind and the rustling of the grass and crops in the area.

Hyde directs her towards a mountain where they proceed to hike towards the top, the grasslands have been changed into a large and lush forest, if it weren't for the man made path, Orie could never imagine being able to walk through this place.

The pair are showered with a large amount of orange leaves falling around them, and even then, the trees are still so full of them that they provide a makeshift tunnel supported by a ceiling of brown and orange feathers.

As the pair slowly reaches the peak, Orie is amazed to see the scenery before them. An entire expanse of lands is laying before her, multiple hectares of different farmlands cover the earth ,each with their own peculiar color and texture, some seemed as if they have been flattened, or others look like hair that has been finely combed. 

Alongside them, she can see the other side of the mountain. The mountainside is filed with a variety of colors with hues from red to yellow as if it were painted by god himself. She can hear the water rushing from a small hole in the earth, the river flowing through the entire forest, giving it the lifeblood needed to hold it´s beautiful ecosystem. 

The sky is filled with floating leaves moving on multiple flowing currents in different directions as if woodland fairies were giving them a spectacle for the pair to see. Near where they stand, there lays a single large oak beside them, it's clear to see that it has been here for centuries, but the trunk looks sturdy and with so much more yet to give. The tree is surrounded by a plain of grassland, the grass just long enough for the wind to sway them from left to right in strange motions as if the grass itself moved like the waves of the ocean. Next to the tree laid a small spot of dirt, most likely made by someone sitting multiple times in it.

This simple yet beautiful scenery makes Orie feel a full sense of tranquility, any worries she ever had are gone and even the dull pain she feels is nothing compared to the peace she is currently feeling right now.

“This is where I go whenever I want to relax and just don´t think about things every once in a while…I think you could use that too, it used to be my place but you can use it whenever you like, it's not like I actually own the place.” Hyde looks next to him towards Orie and being glad to see the lady before her beaming with light as her dazzling blue eyes look at the beauty in front of her.

She stands there for a long time, trying to take in as much of the scenery as possible, her breathing is calm and collected, as if she was expelling all of her worries away, finally looking back at Hyde and telling him with a weak yet delighted tone. “Thank you…I needed this.”

“Wanna take a seat?” Hyde signals towards the spot of dirt.

“Gladly” Orie responds.

The pair walks up to the tree, Hyde letting Orie take a seat next to the large tree holding her hand to support her following soon after, both of them taking in the pleasures of nature blissfully ignorant of the world around them and just enjoying their own company and what's in front of them.

The pair sit there for a long time, shoulder to shoulder, their backs relaxed on the great oak tree just seeing the world for what it is, neither of them wanting to move from this picture perfect representation of the beauty of life,

Hours later with the sun coming down, the pair slowly begin to stand up and walk down the mountain, Orie reluctantly having to tell Hyde it's better to leave while there is still sunlight. “I think we should go to your house first Hyde; I know the city a bit better now, I can get on my home without a problem.”

“You sure Orie? I don't think it is safe being outside when it gets dark.” A concerned Hyde states. “There's probably like robbers or something.”

“Don´t worry about me, it will still take long for night to fall,” Orie responds with confidence in her words and a delicate smile.

“OK, but if you need anything, here’s my phone number, just in case.” Hyde tells the girl his phone number and Orie registers it on her phone.

“Hehe I’ll be fine; I can take care of myself.” Orie replies to Hyde

Hyde can't help but feel a bit concerned, but both continue their way. After Orie leaves Hyde´s house and begins to go on her own, she can see the night coming closer and closer, slowly remembering her responsibilities like a weight slowly pushing her down. And making it worse, the responsibilities she can't do yet due to her conditions and Wagner´s order. The girl feels powerless due to her situation as if she was neglecting her duties to the Licht Kreis, but even she knows that it would be worse to neglect her health and injure herself even more.

Arriving at her room, she begins to prepare herself for bed and tries to get some sleep. For the first time in years she has begun to try to get some sleep in a normal hour of the day, but the problem is…she is incapable of sleeping. 

Whether it is for the fact that she cant help to think the dismissal of her duty, or just the simple fact that her natural clock is not used to sleeping at a normal sleep schedule, she lays hours looking at the ceiling before her, every now and then hearing scratches on the windows, or small footsteps as if wolves are roaming the streets, even when these signs can be simply laughed at as the vivid imagination of someone who is afraid of the darks or the monsters that live under the bed, Orie is sure that is the voids roaming the city, prowling for any possible prey that was foolish enough to be out in the middle of the night.

As she can see the first signs of sunlight reaching the dark sky, Orie finally begins to dream and rest her weary body. She wakes up a bit later than usual, mostly for the fact that today is Saturday and she has no reason to go to school, she dresses herself and makes some breakfast. Not being prepared for a situation where she has no real duties in the daytime, the girl tries to think of ways she can pass the time in the city. It is a large place and there are probably many locations she can get to know more and find pleasant surprises. Reaching to a conclusion Orie takes off and prepares to get a better grasp of the city she is living in.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The adventurous explorer Orie takes on the challenge to know better the city she has swore to protect, she feels the best starting place is in the center of the park, from there she begins to see what around every corner, meeting all kinds of stores selling strange and unique things in small boutiques, from elegant clothes, to strange new toys that she has no familiarity with. She looks at multiple restaurants that contain all kinds of food, some of them local, and others with foreign food she has never seen before. She decides to take lunch in a small but elegant restaurant that focuses on selling all types a fine cakes and delicacies, she enjoys having a peaceful meal with the lively city as her personal view.

She carries on her way towards the streets, looking at everything around her actually taking in the world around her, no destination she has to go to, no responsibility, only looking for her own entertainment. But a sight before her hits her in the gut and fills her head with feelings of dread and fear. A large, dark toned man, with long purple robes covering his body in a traditional monk garb is walking through the street a couple blocks in front of her. The civilians around him are taken aback by the garbs the man is wearing and even then the monk pays them no heed, walking in a calm and slow pace.

The girl can´t help but take a step back in reaction, but the large figure is too far away to take notice. She didn´t realize until know that of course an enemy located in this city would be a resident, living through their normal lives before the night came down. Her feet felt heavy, but she decides to trail the monk, so she may find more information to where he lives, and maybe more information about the Amnesia organization.

An hour passes by before the monk decides to take a stop from walking through the city streets, he looks towards a small bar before entering.

“What would a monk want to do in a bar?” Orie thinks to herself. “This might be one of the safehouses of Amnesia, or maybe his clothing is just for show. I must be careful as to not bring attention.”

As she contemplates more and more about the possibilities with the monk’s whereabouts, her curiosity takes over and decides to slowly approach the bar she saw Enkidu enter. Trying to look at her surroundings making sure she is not followed; she finally stands next to the bar in question. She puts her back against the wall and begins to shimmy to the side of a small window, she can see the monk is the only one inside.

The bar appears to be nicely decorated, it has a clean yet a homelike look, the walls in the bartender counter are filled with all kinds of drinks and even a small oven and kettle, most likely for tea or coffee. The tables and chairs appear to be made of high-quality wood. The lightning gives it a welcoming feeling. The monk is sitting on a far corner of the bar as if waiting for someone. This seems to be a normal bar, but the fact that only the large monk is there gives her a feeling that this might be a reunion point for members of Amnesia., and yet another part of Orie feels that her paranoia is taking over her reasoning and he I just trying to pass the time maybe-

“Pretty cool place, right?”

Orie yelps in response.

“Woah sorry to scare you, I just saw you looking at my bar.” The man responds giving a small chuckle.

“Your…bar?” Orie looks up at the figure before him.

A tall man stands before her. He has a slim but strong frame wearing a long purple coat with black pants, his hair lush and spiky, with a large bang covering his right eye with his left blue eyes standing out with the rest of his face. His eyes seem aggressive, yet his face and grin give a friendly atmosphere, to the point she feels no ill will coming from him.

“Yeah I own this place, gotta live somehow in this city, especially with their ruthless landlords” The man looks to his side with an expression of annoyance. “But enough about me, I can see that you are looking for a good drink.” The man gives an excited grin. “I was having a bit of a smoke break, but the customers come first.” Throwing the cigarette to the sidewalk, the man opens the door to the young girl like a proper gentleman would.

“Ah no it´s just that-” Orie tries to not get her cover blown

“Ah don´t worry about it, tell you what. I´ll give ya a discount on the house for being a first-time customer.” The purple man bargains with the young lady.

“It-It´s fine I was just looking at-“ The girl looks at the window again, but what she sees gives her a shiver down her spine, the monk is already looking at her from the corner of the room, his eyes barely open, and with an unbroken composure he closes them back again and goes back to his own thoughts. 

“...Oh, that guy? Don´t worry, he looks scary but he´s like a puppy, pretty frequent customer here.” The purple man tries to calm down the concerned Orie. “Besides, i used to work as a bouncer, he doesn’t cause trouble, but ill take care of you if anything happens.” The man holds the door with his eyebrows moving up and down quickly with an easy going smile.

Orie takes a moment to consider whether or not to enter before conceding, as Orie enters, the girl can´t help but feel she made a terrible mistake, but the monk has already seen her and she knows that both cannot bring that much attention to them in the middle of the day.

She takes a seat next to the entrance in case things turn for the worse, but Enkidu seems to be unphased by the young girl walking into the bar, he is just looking at the table with his eyes closed as if he is meditating.

“So, what can I get ya? Ya don´t seem like an adult, but a good bartender can give drinks to all ages.” The man hands her a drinks menu, already on the non-alcoholic’s section. “I´m Gourdeau by the way, pleasure to meet cha.” The man gives a wink and in an expert motions with his fingers readies a pen and notebook, ready to take an order.

“Uuuh, I’ll take a green tea then.” Orie tells Gordeau.

“Comin right up! Better behave yourself Enkidu, don´t want you to scare more customers away.” Gordeau looks at the monk with an eyebrow raises and the monk is response raises his palm in silence.

Then purple man goes to the back on the counter and gets to work. If it weren´t for the man sitting on the other side of the room, Orie might have been able to enjoy the nice atmosphere, she can´t help but look at Enkidu which is currently minding his own business, as the man tries to ignore the blue eyes looking at him, he finally accepts Orie´s existence and slightly opens his eyes towards her.

His face shows real lack of enthusiasm, but he signals the young girl on the other side of the room to come closer.

Orie´s demeanor gets more serious, despite being in a public location, she still can´t help that she could get attacked any moment despite the calm behavior of the monk, she begrudgingly walks towards him and takes a seat.

“If you have something to say, say it.” Enkidu speaks in a soothing voice.

Orie looks at the bartender and whispers to the monk. “Why didn´t you kill me?”

“I had no reason to do so.” Enkidu casually replies. “You started the fight did you not?”

“Did you even look at the mayhem you´ve caused through the city? How could I not stop you?” Orie whispers at Enkidu with an angry tone.

“See, you two are already becoming fast friends, told you he doesn´t bite.” Gordeau says as he leaves the green tea for Orie. “And here´s the usual.“As he leaves what appears to be lemonade.

Gordeau goes back to his workstation as Enkidu answers Orie´s question. “I have strength to spare for my own dismay, the scars i leave on the city are mere collateral damage even when I try to hold back against lowlifes like the void.”

“Even then, you are part of Amnesia, you are an enemy of the Licht Kreis, so once again. Why didn´t you kill me?” Orie glares at the monk, while intensely sipping her tea.

“I don´t care whether or not i kill an opponent, anyone looking for a fight should expect for the worst…but members of Amnesia cannot take a life in battle, even against an enemy like the Licht Kreis.” Enkidu unphased takes a drink from his lemonade.

Orie looks at him in disbelief. “If you what you say is true then how does Amnesia expect to take on the Licht Kreis if you are sparing your enemies?” Orie questions the calm monk.

“You should know by now, that a soldier can’t wield their weapons with broken bones.” Enkidu answers with no anger in his voice.

Orie can´t help but feel a bit intimidated by the nonchalant threat made by the monk but carries on. “Even so, the Licht Kreis is a strong organization of justice and we will not let anarchy reign the streets with you Amnesia thugs.” Her voice is still low but stern.

“Like me and my companion on the counter?” Enkidu looks at Gourdeau cleaning the teacup and glasses on his w orkstation.

Orie takes a couple seconds to analyze the Enkidu´s words. “What?” Orie looks behind her at the purple man, he in turn looks back and waves his hand, she then looks back at her own teacup. She begins to spit on the table.

“Hey hey! If you don´t like the drink, you don´t have to spit on the table, I have to clean that later!” The purple man exclaims surprised at Orie´s actions.

“You tried to lure me into a trap and poison me didn´t you!” Orie stands up and begins to walk towards the door, looking at both Amnesia members.

“Wha- What are you talking about?! I don´t even know you girl! Maybe I went a bit too hard selling you the place, but I gotta bring customers somehow.” Gordeau tries to calm her down.

“I´ve seen through your façade fiend from Amnesia, I will not let my guard down even in daytime!” Orie backs herself against the wall, ready to run away to the bar entrance next to her.

Gordeau leans back perplexed at the sudden accusation made by Orie and tells her “Oh…OH, you are one of them, huh... but which one are you ? You with those Night Blade weirdos or those snobs from Licht Kreis?”

“We- we are not snobs! Orie states insulted by Gordeau´s words.

“Ah there we go. Least now I know” Gordeau says to himself.

“How dare you insult us like that anarchist!” She holds the door handle ready to bolt.

“Look girl, I don´t know if you noticed, but it´s the middle of the day, besides I wouldn´t want to wreck my own place, I have trouble enough trying to pay rent.” He raises both his hands in the air in a position of peace.

“So, when you were looking at Enkiboi here, it means you must have met im before right?” Gordeau asks the tense girl.

“Why yes, we had a... confrontation.” Orie responds to Gordeau´s question.

The purple man raises both his eyebrows in surprise and looks at Enkidu, the monk is still not interested in the conversation and continues drinking his lemonade. “Him?!” He then looks back at Orie with a slight chuckle and an eyebrow raised. “And how did that go for ya?”

“Not…good…” Orie lowers her gaze in shame.

“Heh, don´t feel so bad girl, the guy really doesn´t like the attention, but he is a beast when it comes to fighting someone, kinda surprised you are walking right now if I’m being honest. He may not kill while he´s with us, but he doesn´t mind sending people to the hospital a couple of weeks.” He speaks as he keeps cleaning his utensils. “I kinda feel bad for ya, but he did the thing we hired him for so no hard feelings yeah?”

Orie lowers her scowl to a calmer expression. “Why are you so nice to an enemy?”

¨I can´t say much for the night, but as long as you pay your drinks, you are just a normal customer to me.” He answers Orie in a laidback demeanor. “We can try to kill each other at night if you want, I could use the excitement really, fighting the same people kinda gets boring after a bit. But you can relax here for the meantime, I kinda need more customers here if I wanna keep this place running.”

Orie raises her chin, judging the truth in Gordeau´s words before slowly moving back towards her tea sitting in front of the monk still just drinking his lemonade unfazed by the commotion. She takes her cup still looking at Gordeau with some hostility while taking small sips and sitting to a table next to the entrance door.

The purple man smiles and says “See, I knew I make good tea. For a second there I thought I was losing my touch." Gordeau smiles. "It´s good right?”

Orie looks at the purple man putting at him and responds. “Yes.” As she continues drinking her tea.

After finishing her tea, she proceeds to leave the establishment without forgetting to pay the patron of the place and with all the twists and turns in a short span of time, Orie decides to just calm down and go back to her place. She notices her pain, is almost all but gone, but even then Wagner recommended her to keep reapplying her bandages so she can be in optimal condition. Even though she is aware that she was ordered to rest, Orie wishes she could go back to the frontline and protect this city even more now that she is aware of another member of Amnesia living here.

But even then, she can´t help but feel some confusion as to her sworn enemies demeanor towards her, they seem to act like citizens more than anarchists looking to remove the order of the night given by the Licht Kreis. As she ponders on these thoughts, she returns to her room, and tries to get some more rest, so she can be in top condition for the next day when she can finally take action once more.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Orie wakes up the next day well rested with her body now moving without any real soreness. Being glad that her body is in optimal condition she begins to make breakfast hoping to see more parts of the city taking advantage that it´s early in the day. As Orie takes her first steps onto the sidewalk, she ponders whether she should call Hyde so he can be her guide. A strange sense of anxiety fills hers stomach looking at her phone looking at Hyde’s phone number, a simple touch and she would call him, yet after a minute of looking at that same screen Orie decides that she would just be bothering him.

Determined to go out on her own on the city, she leaves her home, but she is stopped on her tracks when the girl sees a familiar figure. Its Wagner waiting outside, her arms crossed leaning on a nearby fence.

“Finally, you woke up, come with me.” Wagner commands Orie with authority.

Orie slightly confused by the sudden appearance takes a moment before following her and asks, “How did you find me?”

“Silvaria gave me information on where you will live before coming here.“ Wagner responds to Orie

“And what are you doing here now? ¨ Orie keeps questioning the blonde girl.

“We have a new objective, apparently an instrument called as the insulator is located in this city, a powerful tool that if it falls in the hands of another organization it could potentially become a threat to the entire organization.” Wager speaks in a stiff and sober tone “Apparently an In birth is currently wielding the insulator, we need to identify the wielder and take their weapon, either by democracy or force.”

Orie disturbed by the news asks Wagner. “Any information on how the wielder looks like or the insulator itself?”

“We have no information of the wielder´s identity, but we do know the appearance of the insulator, apparently it´s a long katana with a blade of black and red. We have to get ahold of this weapon as quickly as possible, this takes top priority when investigating through the city at night, this could mean disaster to the Licht Kreis.” Wagner walk becomes quicker and more desperate, seeing the genuine concern Wagner has is making Orie worry even more.

“I will do my best to aid you Wagner.” Orie states with a small bow.

“Have you followed my instructions on your recovery?” Wagner asks.

“Yes, even today I’m wearing new bandages, but I already feel like my old self again.” Orie assures her companion.

“Good, then it means I can train you.” The blonde girl gives a subtle smile.

“Train…me?” Orie is bewildered by Wagner´s words.

“Yes, we do not know what this wielder is capable of, and even if I don´t believe it so, I might need some assistance, as little as you could provide anyway and I´ve decided ill teach you how to be a respectable warrior of the Licht Kreis.” Wagner speaks in her usual pompous tone.

“But it´s the middle of the day, where can we fight without bringing attention to ourselves?” Orie inquires looking at the busy metropolis.

“My family owns a large expanse of land at the outskirts of the city, which is where we are going to now, I have to see to it that you are fit to take on your job as executor of the Licht Kreis.” Wagner answers the curious girl´s question.

The pair proceeds to walk to the outskirts of the city, going deep into the grasslands, following a dirt road paved by the tracks of vehicles going through it. They end up in a large expanse of land with multiple kinds of livestock roaming it, feeding from the green grass growing on the green hectares of land.

“Follow me.” Wagner states as she signals Orie to come with her hand.

The two of them end up in a large plain, separating the livestock with a tall steel fence, only the two of them reside in this area.

Wagner flicks her hair back with her hands and looks at the Orie in the eye and says. “Now then...” In a flash of fire, Wagner wields her crimson sword and shield. Her muscles tense, she stomps into the ground her feet digging into the earth before her legs with force running towards Orie. She places her shield in front ready to tackle the azure knight.

Orie surprised with Wagner´s lack of warning, she quickly prepares her sword. The air she breathes begins to get hotter as Wagner starts to become covered in flames, burning the ground as she runs by, her shield glows with a red aura of fire. “I´m fighting the Flame Tyrant, the strongest warrior of the Licht Kreis.” The though itself it brings Orie with both expectation and fear. She decides to take Wagner´s shield charge head on with her Phantom Thanatos.

In a flash of light a white great sword appears out of thin air with a holy knight following suit, it buries its sword deep into the ground, and places the entire weight of its body to the flat body of great sword ready for the imminent impact. Wagner noticing Orie´s daring move, she takes it as an insult to her own strength and her pace become quicker and the blaze covering her becomes brighter.

Wagner charges at Thanatos´s great sword with her entire body, a blast of wind and fire spread through the plains, the burrowed sword creaks and bends despite its large size and begins to dig a small canyon on the earth as both Thanatos and Orie is pushed back by the impact. Both are stuck in a tug of war until Wagner quickly sidesteps the Phantom with her shield before aiming her short sword at the Azure knight.

The two knights clash, Wagner´s short sword moves from the tip of Orie´s rapier towards the hilt. Orie struggling to hold back Wagner´s overwhelming power, she steps back looking for more breathing room, Wagner denies that opportunity chasing Orie down with a flurry of powerful strike. The sounds of nature is deafened with a song of steel as Wagner trashes her weapon at the Azure Knight weaving large strands of fire in the air even hurting Orie even as she manages to block her attacks.

Orie in turn is still on the defensive taking step backs as trying to keep Wagner away from her. The large plains, the blue sky, the small burns on her arms, all of it is being ignored, her mind is focused solely on seeing the wicked dance coming from the flame tyrant, looking at the rhythm of her strikes, her breathing, every minor muscle movement Wagner does looking for a gap in her attacks.

Orie´s patience pays off as she finally sees a gap in Wagner´s offense as Wagner short sword prepares to strike down Orie, she follows the movement of it with the tip of her rapier, gently touching each other’s blades, following Wagner’s momentum before enforcing her own, parrying the blow and destabilizing the Flame Tyrant´s stance, seeing the opportunity, Orie lunges towards the Flame Tyrant. A multitude of thrust aimed towards Wagner´s limbs are unleashed; Wagner weaves her body from side to side dodging and deflecting if need be with her shield the Azure Knight´s attacks before showing genuine anger.

Wagner hooks both her arms with Orie´s before giving a powerful headbutt making Orie reel from the impact and opening a small wound as she begins to bleed.

“How dare you insult me with such pitiful attacks?! Is this all you must show for?! Wagner raises her right leg, before giving a mighty kick to Orie´s stomach, her red heels digging into Orie´s body.

Orie is pushed back from the powerful impact leaving a sharp pain on Orie´s stomach.

Stop trying to spare my health, this is a duel! Fight like a true Executor of the Licht Kreis! Wagner roars towards the azure knight raising her short sword in anger looking to continue the assault

A heated Orie begins to run towards her too, both ready to clash with each other once more. As the two of them stand face to face a few centimeters away from each other a large great sword swing from behind Wanger, ready to slice her in half, hearing the wind whistling to the large blade´s tune, she backflips the strike.

Orie jumps from Thanatos shoulder and lunges towards the Flame Tyrant. As Wagner falls, she blocks Orie´s strike with her shield. The two are stuck in struggle as a large shadow covers the entirety of Wagner´s body, it´s Thanatos, floating above the clashing knights, its great sword covered in a bright white hue of light, leaving behind a beautiful crescent moon in the air as the Phantom slashes downward towards Wagner.

Wagner takes the phantom´s blow head on with her small shield, the impact is felt throughout Wagner´s body, her red heels digging into the ground. Three blades are locked with each other, despite the two warriors putting pressure, the Flame Tyrant doesn´t yield.

Through Thanatos´s large column of steel and her blade, Orie can see Wagner’s face, she carries a delighted smile, her crimson eyes burning with passion.

“Finally, you are acting like a real knight, draw your blade, advance, and never let up against your enemy, for they will not do the same for you!” Wagner cloaks herself in flames, lowering her body before taking a leap, despite both blades holding the Flame Tyrant down, they are taken aback by the force of the jump as Wagner takes to the air in a spiral of fire, before clashing down towards the two of them.

Orie manages to avoid Wagner’s attack by taking a large leap backwards, while Thanatos disappears in a hue of white light, the Tyrant impacts the earth creating an explosion of fire with rocks flying in all directions forcing Orie to cover her eyes, having a limited view, Orie barely distinguishes the glowing figure in the cloud of dirt, Wagner is ready to strike Orie down. She braces herself of the impact and Wagner´s powerful strike sends Orie flying back.

The blue knight wanting to end this senseless violence, prepares to make her final move, she centers herself and closes her eyes, holding her blade parallel to her body, she holds back her breath as sparks of light flow around her, spirals of light circle the Azure Knight. The girl exudes large gusts of wind, swaying the grass around her in waves. She opens her eyes, and slowly aims her rapier towards Wagner.

Wagner thrilled by seeing Orie´s power, takes on the challenge and hits her shield with her blade as if to agitate her opponent more and prepares for Orie´s strike. “Come on!” Wagner roars at Orie.

Wagner sees the shining knight glowing majestically in a white light ready to strike her, as she blinks, the girl disappears from her view, the only thing left in the plains is the spiral of light of where the azure knight used to be. The next thing she sees is a cerulean blur and a lance of light, aiming towards her heart, in the indistinguishable figure she can see two shining blue eyes holding the conviction and faith of the Licht Kreis. 

A section of Wanger´s shield bends against Orie´s surgical strike before passing behind Wagner, the wind manages to catch up to the Azure knight´s nimble blow, as she finally coming back to full view. The air flows her blue dress forward with the gust of wind continuing her previous direction, moving the grass on the ground along its path. 

A slight chuckle can be heard behind Orie´s back before becoming a hearty laugh. “Finally, someone in this organization shows some bravado against me. I believe you are fit for combat.” Wagner announces to Orie.

Orie takes a moment to think before coming back to her senses and remembering this was just a training session. “Oh, I’m sorry for my insolence!” Orie says as she takes a deep bow.

“Don’t be, I’m glad that you hold the strength the Licht Kreis needs right now in this time of uncertainty.” Wagner smiles at Orie satisfied with herself.

Orie taken aback by the genuine compliment received by Wagner she takes another small bow and tells Wagner. “Thank you for thinking that highly of myself.”

“This is enough exercise for now, I have food already prepared at my family´s state ranch, as you can tell, we get the freshest cuts of meat available in this city.”

The two of them take an excellent meal, in Wagner´s extravagant estate, the house filled with multiple trophies from game they have most likely hunted through the years.

The table filled with all kinds of cuts of meat and elegant side dishes to complement their food. As they eat, Orie can´t help but have some questions for Wagner.

“So, Wagner…I been wondering…why did the Licht Kreis send you here with me? I thought you had a higher rank than myself in the executors.” Orie regrets saying this question as she finishes her sentence.

Wagner stops eating for a moment, looking at her plate before answering Orie. “The organization found my methods… tasteless. They wanted for me to not only work with another member, but to live outside my usual family residences, to _live with the people_ as they so call it.” Wagner visibly annoyed hearing those words again. “They simply didn´t like how I held myself in battle.”

“Well, your fighting style is quite…passionate, could I ask you another thing.” Orie says with a concerned look.

“I´m in a good mood, ask now before I’m not.” Wagner takes a sip from her drink.

“Do you fight other humans, the way you fight the voids?” Orie asks

“Yes of course, I don´t judge different any enemy of the Licht Kreis.” Wagner nonchalantly responds to Orie´s question.

“But don’t you think it´s a bit too harsh for them, you destroyed the voids before finally killing them, wouldn´t it be more efficient to just give them a clean blow.” Orie continues speaking worrying about stepping on a landmine.

Wagner looks straight at Orie´s eyes making the girl shiver. “…Do you want to know why I fight the way I do?”

¨Y-yes, I’m… interested.” Orie says with a sense of concern.

“Back when started, I cut down my enemies as quickly as possible, they came in large numbers so I believed that taking them out quickly would be the best course of action. They fell one after another quickly leaving this world without a single sound.

It´s companions didn´t understand the weight of what I have done to their fallen comrades, so they still charged at me foolishly thinking they ever stood a chance at defeating me.

I realized that I must teach them an example of what it is to fight someone from the Licht Kreis. So, I decided to stop going for their vitals, I broke their bones, made them scream, strike them where it hurts most just so the rest would know how meaningless it is to face me. Seeing their allies writhe on the ground screaming in pain and crying send fear to the rest of the group. By torturing a couple of them, the rest lay down their weapons in fear and gave themselves to the Licht Kreis peacefully as prisoners.

Intimidation is a strong weapon, capable of making people surrender in battle without even lifting a finger at them. I believe people started calling me Flame Tyrant and such not long after, and I was glad, the fear that title gives on others is enough to make their knees buckle in front of me… as they should.

THIS is what the organization doesn´t stand, how can they earn the respect of their opponents if they have no reason to fear them. THIS is why I am here, why I fight the way I do even if it means being feared by the same organization I work for.” Wagner thanks a long sip from her drink.

Orie is silent not knowing how to answer after hearing Wagner´s words.

“But…don´t you feel any sense of remorse for your opponents?” Orie asks Wagner.

¨They knew the severity of their actions the moment they decided to go against the Licht Kreis.¨” Wagner responds before taking a bite of her meal.

“Ever thought about just incapacitating them?” Orie states from across the table.

“Ever tried incapacitating a small army with all their weapons aimed at your throat?” Wagner responds in a sarcastic tone.

“But…don´t you feel isolated being feared by members of the Licht Kreis” Orie tries for Wagner to see reason.

“I have no need for cowards who do not wish to take on their duty with the dedication it deserves. My family has served them for generations for WE know what we must do to keep the peace even if it goes against the will of some of its members.” Wagner replies

“I just believe you… could subdue more enemies without killing them if you had other members helping you in mission, maybe they could even understand you a bit more.” Orie continues

“I don´t need them to understand me, I need them to do their job. Besides you can´t just change someone’s perception once they had made their decision.” Wagner objects to Orie´s words.

“I don´t think that´s true because I …with all honesty, I thought you were a brute at first.” Orie tries to avoid Wagner´s gaze.

Wagner looks at Orie, eyebrows raised and stopped in her meal in reaction to the young girl´s bold words.

“But I see there´s more to you than meets the eye, I just think you can get yourself known if you try, you could rely on others, for the moment, you can at least rely on me.”

Wagner stays unmoving for a long time looking at Orie, both looking at each other in silence from one side of the table to the next. Wagner takes long sip of her drink before finally speaking. “…We will see what you can do this night then.”


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Once the pair finished their meal, they both went back to their own homes waiting or the sun to come down, ready to take care of the void threat and more importantly to find this insulator the Licht Kreis is looking for.

As the night returns to the city, Orie walks toward her point of reunion at the center of the park, to only be surprised by what she saw, Wagner is nowhere to be found, Orie was already used to seeing Wagner waiting for her arrival before starting with their investigation. Even when the night has begun, Orie can´t help but feel worried.

The knight waits for half an hour, nothing, something was off and she was too impatient to wait for an answer in the park, she begins to walk outside the park to see any clues of Wagner´s whereabouts. After searching around the area near the park, she notices stray strands of strings laying on the streets, floating across the air, glistening in the moonlight. Orie believes to have found the first signs of a perturbance on the city.

Time passes as Orie follows the trail, occasionally taking care of voids few and far between, their numbers much lower than normal. Orie knows that this isn´t normal environment in the city. The more Orie walks, the more strings can be found spread across the streets of the city, she begins to them clumped together in groups on the corners or buildings and alleyways, like intricate spider webs.

More and more of the webs cover buildings, spreading from one side of the street to the other making silk curtains sparkling across the streets. Orie arrives what a appears to be a large parking lot complex, covered in strings, completely covered no light appears to come in. The chilling scene gives Orie a clear sense of fear, but she carries on, looking to enter this ominous building.

She slashes a small entrance to the parking lot, cutting aside the wall of string covering it, she notices the strings are incredibly sticky and durable despite their width. Hoping to make as little noise as possible as to not give away her position she takes small, mindful steps as to not make any sounds. Orie moves deeper in the parking lot complex; the light is becoming more and more fleeting filling the building in pitch darkness. One floor after another, she makes her best to hear any sounds out of the ordinary that might give an indication of someone else being on the building.

The more she moves upwards, the less space she has, more and more webs cover the area, every now and then she gets stuck and quietly cuts her way out. Ever so slowly moving to the darkest reaches of the building, she can barely see her surroundings having to resort to feeling her way through the floors. She arrived at the top of the building, and faint noises can be heard throughout the area. Orie flinches as she hears those sounds, noticing they come from they come from the same location and that they do not increase or decrease in volume, she slowly walks towards the noise, feeling her way avoiding going too deep into the webs. As she holds a large oblong shape, it feels different compared to the rest of the webs she has touched, it´s warm.

The oblong shape begins to writhe and groan.

“AAAAHHHH!” Orie terrified recoils away from the shape her back against an a wall, another oblong shape moving in reaction to feeling Orie´s back.

Afraid, Orie shines her rapier with a white glow. The entire top floor is filled with cobwebs and multiple oblong shapes the size of humans recoiling one after the other after hearing the first sounds of noise and touch.

Orie tries to yelp but she stops herself with her own hand, the scenery itself is like of a nightmare. She knows she must get all these people out of here before the creature comes back.

As she realizes the severity of the situation, a noise makes her heart sink into the ground. A small skittering noise can be heard in the bottom of the building, echoing through the walls up to the upper floors of the parking lot. Orie quickly removes the light of her blade, but even then, she realizes that she has given away her location.

The sound perpetuating from the lower levels is as if metal claws are quickly moving across concrete, the noise is moving quickly despite the large amount of webs that are spread through the area, every now and then, the metal claws are heard no longer on the ground before appearing in another section of the building.

The creature is clearly moving through the webs, it is the creator of this horrible cave. Orie tries to slowly move from her original position, hoping the creature was only following her light and cannot see well in the dark. Moving is difficult as she has trouble feeling her way through the building looking for a place to hide.

On the other hand, the skittering sound coming from the creature becomes louder and louder, getting closer´s to Orie´s floor. Orie´s movements become more desperate as she is filled with more anxiety thinking of having to fight a creature she cannot see and, in a room, filled with its traps.

The skittering sound reverberates on the left side of the lower levels, then the right, sounding in the ceiling of a floor before disappearing and sounding back again in the ground.

Orie drops bullets of sweat as she tries her best to hide, but the skittering sound resonating the building is heard no more, a perpetuating silence fills the entire building nothing is heard, nothing moves and only the sound of her heartbeat and the recoiling people in the building surrounding Orie.

In a feeble attempt she looks frantically at all sides of the floor looking for any sign of the unknown creature until a hand reaches from behind her and clasps her mouth shut, she tries to scream, frantically struggling , but she then hears a small voice next to her ear.

“ _ It´s me, Wagner. Be silent _ ”

The terrified Orie looks behind her at the crimson knight holding her back, she can barely make the figure of her companion, collecting herself she signals Wagner to take her hand off. As the two lie in the corner of the building, large silhouettes begin to circle around them ready to take their lives.

Wagner, barely noticing the shadow of the blades in the darkness pushes both down into the ground. The metal blades manage to cut into Wagner´s back making her grunt in pain.

Furious, Wagner slashes towards the creature whipping fire with her sword at its general direction. The flames alight the hideous floor they are currently in, only catching a glimpse of their opponent, it appearing to be a humanoid with claws. The skittering figure goes back into the darkness where he can´t be seen once more.

Orie seeing the fire burning the string around her, she signals Wagner with her hand to go down. “ _ There are people on this floor, they might get burned. _ “

Wagner complies and begin to make their way to the lower floors.

“ **My, this is the first time I see someone willingly come into my web… And In births at that… This night might be more fun than I thought.** ”

The dead voice echoes throughout the building echoing through the walls into the two knights’ ears. Both of them light their ways with their blades as they move through the building below, both hearing the skittering move in and out, quickly changing the distance between the two before turning in back into nothing as if it was never there.

Large spikes come from the ceiling towards the ground scratching Orie´s shoulder, Orie instinctively makes Thanatos slash upwards with his shining great sword slashing through the concrete, missing his opponent, but revealing more of his appearance.

There was no doubt about it, their opponent was a human. His humanity was only contradicted by the large metal claws lurking behind his back and his large empty eyes. The man goes back into the darkness.

“We are low enough. I´ve had enough with this charade! Stand back!” As Wagner speaks she lets out a whirling slash cutting through most of the string around the floor, giving them more space to move around in, unfortunately, the large walls of web covering the building make them hard to be destroyed by simple flames, there is still little to no visibility inside.

“Cover me while I cut down these webs! The moment he is seen it´s over for him!” Wagner commands Orie as she begins to slash through the thick web walls. Small rays of light enter the room, giving some semblance of vision for the two knights.

Orie can see through the small rays of light a shadow moving at high speeds through the building, moving through the ceiling and floor, hiding in between vehicles as to not be seen in the light, dancing its way through the shadows.

“ **I worked hard to make my nest, don´t you have any manners?** ”

As his words echo through the floor, large metal blades begin to be hurled towards Wagner trying to stop her assault on the man´s nest. As they fly, Thanatos deflects the large projectiles with its blade, the blades crash into the ground and vehicles before quickly returning into the darkness. More and more rays of light pierce through the building both can see the silhouette moving through the building.

**“I like when my prey struggles, but not like this.”**

The crash of a window breaks to the right of Orie, she instinctively looks to the sound´s direction. As she turns she feels a large projectile hitting her from behind, her arms begin to be stuck with what appears to be the webbing, the more she tries to move, the more the binds become tighter and harder to break.

**“Please don’t move, it´s the best for you anyway…”**

The dark silhouette begins the run towards Orie, the rays of light makes the sharp metal claws gleam as they plunge towards Orie direction, looking to finish her off.

A glowing figure stands in front of Orie ready to protect her, Thanatos clash blades with the unknown enemy, sparks fly as a flurry of blows are exchanged between the two. Thanatos´s power clearly holds more strength but the large number of blades the figure has is overwhelming it. As Orie tries to break her binds, she can see the enemy is a man of similar age as her, his dead eyes look as if the boy was nothing but a corpse especially with his pale skin. His passive face combined with his easygoing smile startles Orie. 

Taking out most of the webbed walls, Wagner runs towards Orie´s aid with the enemy dashing back avoiding taking on the three warriors head on. Large patches of light cover the floor, but there is pitch black on the floors below or above. The opponent dashes away to the floors below.

Wagner´s breaks Orie´s bindings, once the azure knight was freed, both of them begin to stay away from the shadows and the pitch black on the center of the building where the where the bottom floors of the building are still untouched, they began to put their backs towards de edge of the building where multiple open spaces let the light shine into the parking lot.

Both are silent, looking around, waiting for his opponent´s next move. Silence permeates the battleground, both being uneasy. Wagner is dragged from behind her thrown towards the city, it was the boy, in clear moonlight climbing the outside of the building taking the two by surprise. Their current altitude is approximately 10 stories almost 100 feet, falling from that height could easily kill a human, and even then, this height is still capable of killing an in birth like Wagner.

Orie unconsciously jumps out of the building catching Wagner by the foot with Thanatos following suit, catching Orie´s leg. The three of them create a daisy chain dangling from the building from a great height, the streets below look minuscule from their perspective. Seeing the situation, the enemy takes advantage slashing at Thanatos’s Arm forcing him to let go of the two. The two knights are in freefall going to the ground with increasing speed.

“Hold on to me!” Wagner shouts at Orie

Orie clasp her arms together at Wagner´s stomach and with a flash of flames she blasts the two of them towards the building, Wagner envelopes her sword in flames and holding a battle cry, she slashes the wall of webs, barely slicing through and crashing back into the concrete of the parking lot.

They are back on firm ground, but they are once more enveloped in darkness. They can hear the skittering on the walls, once more not being able to see their opponent.

_ “We cannot keep going like this, we need to take him out in a single stroke.” Orie tells Wagner. _

_ “Well said, your phantom can create light cant he not?” Wagner asks Orie _

_ “Yes, but only for a brief period of time.” Orie answers _

_ “That is all I need, the moment we hear him close, you ignite your phantom while I charge towards him, my flames should give enough visibility for you to continue the assault, we must light the way for each other not giving him time to escape.”  _ Wagner prepares herself ready to charge at their enemy.

_ “Very well”  _ Orie takes a deep breath and prepares her blade.

The skittering sounds appear to come closer and closer to the pair until the two of them stop hearing him. Wagner lets a couple seconds of silence pass by before screaming from the top of her lungs “NOW!”.

From the darkness a shining white knight fills the floor in a bright white light. Their enemy is above the two getting ready to cut them.

Wagner takes a powerful jump and lunges towards the escaping enemy; she slashes the metal claws protecting its users bringing a light show of fire and sparks as multiple blades collide.

As the light from Thanatos dims, Orie follows her ally, seeing the enemy from the collateral flames surrounding him. Orie proceeds to create of flurry of blows creating ribbons of light in the air, attempting to stab the enemy but the multiple blade are able to deflect most attacks, only scratching the surface skin of their opponent, before the boy can counteract, Wagner continues the assault, as one knight clashes with the enemy, the other follows suit, their blades being the only light outlining the grim environment they are fighting in.

One after the other the charge at him with rhythm, not giving him time to breathe, more and more blows go through his defenses, seeing an opportunity, Orie calls forth Thanatos once more driving his great sword through the ground, cutting through the floor before driving it upwards towards her foe.

Seeing the strength of the imminent attack, he has no choice but to use the entirety of his claws to protect himself, the blow sends him flying upwards, still reeling from the massive strike, he begins to feel heat coming from his back.

It was Wagner above him, her face showing anger with burning crimson eyes falls towards his enemy shield in front ready to take him down, he has no time to react, he takes the full force of Wagner´s blow on his back driving him to the ground ending with a large explosion of flames accompanied by the sound of concrete breaking down. The floor gives in, one after the other, the two of them fall through the building, lighting the environment as they keep their momentum burning not only the string of webs on their path but also the vehicles who were unlucky enough to be there at the time. 

Finally coming to a complete stop, bringing with its large quantities of rubble and dust. Orie looks at the aftermath of the finishing blow, a large crater pierces through multiple holes on the ground still being visible by the leftover flames from Wagner´s charge.

As the rubble begins to expand more and more throughout the building without any way to escape due to the closed off walls, both knights can´t see where they currently are. Wagner tries to hold down the opponent, but her vision is limited. His enemy also isn´t sure where she is only that she is on top of him, he tries to swing wildly behind him trying to take her down in a desperate attempt of escape, his swings are weak now, but even then Wagner has trouble protecting her vitals without being able to see.

Forced to fall back, she steps off the enemy before hearing that unnerving skittering once more, its pace is much slower, the rhythm uneven, clearly hurt from Wagner´s charge. Orie hears the sound coming closing to her, preparing for the worst she raises her rapier with Thanatos behind him ready to slice with its great sword.

But as she waits for an attack, she sees a shadow crawling towards the lit-up floor above them before the sounds completely stops. Orie quickly rushes to chase him down, but as she arrives nothing is there, the azure knight looks from outside one of the open spaces and sees the boy running away, crawling through the walls. Of the buildings of the city.

Orie curses herself that they couldn´t stop him, but nevertheless, they know that he won´t be coming back tonight. 

“Are you ok Wagner!?” Orie shouts below.

“Yes…I’m fine.” Wagner responds with a strain on her voice.

After a while, the two knights move forward towards the top floor of the building where all the people were being held captive, breaking their bindings, and checking for their pulses. They seem to have lost consciousness from the lack of proper breathing, but Wagner confirms that they still have a pulse but need medical attention.

Ten people in total were held captive, two at a time they drag their unconscious bodies to a nearby hospital , its doors are closed but Wagner smashes the door open, laying them in line on the hallway in one of the floors trying to hide them from anyone else looking for prey like the void.

Both knights are exhausted, covered in cuts and bruises, but still in decent enough health. Wagner took the brunt of the damage, her back is covered with three deep cuts, staining her white cape with blood and various small slashes around her body most likely coming from the unknown enemy´s final struggle.

“You are hurt, we need to get you some treatment.” A worried Orie tells Wagner.

“It's fine…. I have…supplies on my room.” Wagner tries to keep her proud posture, but it´s clear she's having trouble walking properly.

Without saying a word Orie put her shoulders under her arm, Wagner looks at her confused, but decides to take the Azure Knight´s help. 


End file.
